Following strong objections and a walkout by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the federal government has approved the withdrawal of the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Amendment Ordinance 2026.
Prime Minister has signed the summary for withdrawing the ordinance, formally initiating the process.
According to details, President Asif Ali Zardari has been advised under Article 89(2) of the Constitution to withdraw the ordinance. The prime minister has sent official advice to the president in this regard. The ordinance was withdrawn after it was deemed inconsistent with national policy.
The PPP had earlier staged a walkout from the National Assembly in protest against the promulgation of the ordinance. Sources said the SEZ Amendment Ordinance was sent to the Presidency along with six other bills and one additional ordinance.
Approvals for summaries and files are processed through the e-Office system, under which all bills and ordinances were collectively approved.
However, when the files were returned from the Presidency, the SEZ Amendment Ordinance did not bear the president’s signature. Despite this, the ordinance had already been promulgated based on the e-Office approval, which later became a point of contention.
The federal government has now officially withdrawn the SEZ ordinance and decided that the matter will instead be presented before Parliament in the form of a bill for proper legislative approval.
Earlier, the issuance of the Islamabad Local Government Ordinance had also sparked controversy in the National Assembly. PPP leaders strongly objected to ordinances being issued without the president’s signature and staged a protest walkout from the House.
During the assembly session, senior PPP leader Naveed Qamar questioned how an ordinance could be issued without presidential approval and why such a move was made on the day of the parliamentary session, calling it one of the darkest days in parliamentary history.
PPP leader Abdul Qadir Patel clarified that the issue was not limited to the Islamabad Local Government Ordinance but also involved the Export Processing Zones ordinance, alleging that the government had failed to take Parliament into confidence and later admitted its mistake.
The development marked a significant political concession by the government amid pressure from its coalition partner and signals that the proposed amendments will now be debated through the parliamentary process.
