Parliament session requisitioned over PIA issue

Govt’s policy on PIA and petroleum prices also tops opposition’s agenda

ISLAMABAD:

The opposition parties have filed requisition for early session of both the houses of parliament in the wake of strike by the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) employees against government’s privatisation move and the killing of three PIA workers during protests in Karachi.

The PIA employees decided to go on strike on February 2 after their talks with the government collapsed and three PIA workers died on Tuesday after sustaining bullet wounds when security forces tried to disperse the protesting employees at Karachi’s Jinnah Terminal.

The opposition parties on Tuesday submitted different requisition notices to the Senate and National Assembly secretariats for convening the session. The lawmakers from the PPP, the MQM, the PTI, the PML-Q, Jamaat-e-Islami and the BNP-A signed the requisition. The government’s policy on the PIA and petroleum prices are on top of the opposition’s agenda.



As per the requisition, opposition wants to include issues of the brutal killing and injuring of the PIA employees and media persons and the enforcement for six months of the Essential Service Maintenance Act 1952 in a move to stall the PIA strike.

The act bars the protesting PIA members from participating in any union activity and says that: “Any person found guilty of an offence under this Act shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year and shall also be liable to a fine".

The opposition parties’ requisition also wants to discuss the government decision to burden gas consumers with Rs101 billion and depriving the masses of the benefits of massive reduction in petroleum prices in the international market.

According to rules, once the notice is submitted the Senate chairman and the National Assembly speaker are bound to convene the sitting within 14 days.  Under Article 54(3) of the Constitution, one-fourth members of the Senate can requisition a session and after submission of the notice, the Senate chairman can summon the session.



In the 104-member Senate, opposition members are in a majority and have the required strength of 26 seats to requisition a session. However, the National Assembly speaker can act on the requisition notice in a delayed manner and put the requisition on hold for a maximum of 14 days.

Preempting this glitch, PTI’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi, flanked with his party chief Imran Khan, urged the speaker to convene the session as soon as possible to debate on important public interest issues.

The opposition had also convened a session of both houses in September last year, while claiming that the government had been running away from parliament because of fear the coming Senate session could be stormy in view of several recent incidents.

Reaction on Karachi incident

Meanwhile, former president and the PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemned the killing of protesters and demanded investigation into the Karachi tragedy. He also called for a judicial probe into the firing incident. Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah regretted use of force against the PIA employees for staging peaceful protest.

Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Liaqat Baloch also condemned the incident. Baloch said his party has announced countrywide protest on Wednesday (today) and he will lead the protest from Karachi after attending funeral of the deceased.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2016.