Pakistan: Opposition holds protest against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa govt for refusing to hold assembly session

Opposition members alleged that the government wanted to deprive the women and minority members, elected on reserved seats and notified by the Election Commission of Pakistan, of voting in the Senate polls scheduled to be held in April.

Opposition members on Friday held a protest against the government for refusing to hold a sitting of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Pakistan-based Dawn reported. The opposition and government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are headed for legal confrontation after the government did not follow the order of the governor, who had called a session of the provincial legislature. Opposition members alleged that the government wanted to deprive the women and minority members, elected on reserved seats and notified by the Election Commission of Pakistan, of voting in the Senate polls scheduled to be held in April.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ibadullah Khan, who is leader of the opposition in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, said, "This is their [women and minority members'] right to take oath. They [Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf] want to take four extra seats in the Senate polls." Ibadullah Khan expressed regret that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on one hand complained about alleged changes in Form-45s and Form-47s aimed at depriving them of several seats in the general elections held in Pakistan on February 8 while on the otherhand it was itself breaching the law, according to Dawn report.

He stated that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Ghulam Ali had the powers to call a sitting of the assembly under Article 109 of the Constitution. He further said that 45 members from the opposition parties had urged the Governor to call the session. Khan said opposition members came to the assembly. However, the offices of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, Deputy Speaker Suriya Bibi, and secretary, along with the assembly building were locked.

Earlier on February 21, opposition lawmakers said that they will initiate legal action against the government for not calling the assembly session as the secretariat did not issue a notification for the session although the governor had issued orders to that effect. PPP lawmaker said, "We are going to the high court [against the provincial government for not calling the sitting on March 22]," Dawn reported.

Meanwhile, Babar Saleem Swati approached the Law Department to know if the governor's order was in accordance with the Constitution. His action came after the governor on Wednesday called a sitting of the KP Assembly on March 22 for the oath-taking ceremony of members who had been elected to reserved and minority seats and notified by Pakistan's electoral watchdog on March 4, Dawn reported, citing an official document. His decision led to a tiff between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the newly-elected government, headed by Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, who called the governor's actions as unconstitutional, according to Dawn report.

In a statement, Adviser to the chief minister on information and public relations Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif said, "The governor can request the speaker of the provincial assembly to call a session, but cannot call a sitting on his own. It is the discretion of the speaker to call the assembly and prepare its agenda." According to the statement, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is in contact with its legal team about its response to the governor's order which they termed "unconstitutional," Dawn reported.

The Sunni Ittehad Council, which has 90 PTI-backed members in the assembly, was denied its share of the reserved seats by the electoral watchdog. Those seats were alloted to other parties that have presence in the Assembly, including the JUI-F, PML-N, PPPP, ANP, and PTI Parliamentarians. (ANI)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)