After four months, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly is set to meet on October 24 with a very heavy agenda. In addition to the no-confidence motion against Chief Minister (CM) Khattak and polls to replace Deputy Speaker Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi, the assembly is set to hear around 21 bills.
According to a senior official in the K-P government who requested anonymity, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has started preparations for the upcoming session. He told The Express Tribune the summary of the session has been sent to the CM and after his endorsement, it will be sent to the governor for final approval.
A matter of confidence
The senior official shared the no-confidence motion submitted by opposition parties will also be voted on in this session.
After a series of statements made by PTI Chairperson Imran Khan on party ministers resigning and dissolving assemblies, the opposition in K-P submitted a no-confidence motion against Khattak on August 19, to be presented in the assembly.
However, the opposition did not requisition a session and the government did not call one till now. Earlier, a look at various laws as well as the rules of assembly revealed that while there are deadlines in place for once it is presented in the house, there is not much clarity on whether a motion can expire before a session has been called.
However, legal experts had told The Express Tribune if such a motion is moved at a time when the assembly is not in session, a session has to be requisitioned so the matter can be decided within 14 days. They concurred the motion had indeed lapsed.
Between Khattak’s statements of having no intentions to dissolve the provincial legislature and members of the opposition claiming the no-confidence motion was less about Khattak and more about preventing the assembly from being dissolved, the matter seemed to have been cut down even before it was properly taken up. However, October 24 will reveal whether either side of the aisle has actual intentions of following through.
In fact, the assembly will be divided over another issue, possibly a more hairy one.
On October 3, Khattak named new cabinet members, including deputy speaker Qureshi as the law minister.
The next assembly session will also see polls to replace Qureshi. It is expected PTI will field Special Assistant on Law Arif Yousaf as a candidate, however, insiders suggest the party will face some internal resistance from its forward bloc.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Yousaf said the coming session is very important and very precious decisions will come under discussion. He added 21 new bills will be presented while the law ministry will bring up new legislations which need more debate.
Top billed
While six of the bills expected to be presented to the house are amendment bills, the rest include new legislation.
According to law ministry documents available with The Express Tribune, the proposed legislation includes The K-P Plants Breeds’ Rights bill, K-P Agriculture Pesticides bill, K-P Usurious Loans bill, K-P Charitable and Religious Trusts bill, K-P Environmental Protection bill, K-P Conflict of Interest bill, K-P Injured Persons and Emergency (medical aid) bill, K-P Disposing of Hindu Property bill, and K-P Retirement Benefits and Death Compensation bill. The ordinances include the K-P Sensitive and Vulnerable Establishments ordinance, K-P Senior Citizens ordinance, and the K-P Technical Education and Vocational Training ordinance.
The six amendment bills include the K-P Speaker and Deputy Speakers (Salaries and Allowances amendment) Bill, K-P Elementary and Secondary Education (amendment) Bill, and the K-P Zakat and Usher (amendment) Bill.
According to the documents, so far in the PTI tenure, 35 bills have been passed by the provincial assembly.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2014.
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