Opposition tries to make itself count in K-P Assembly

Creates noise over local govt amendment bill while seeking discussion on contentious BRT project

PESHAWAR: Even though the government and the opposition both know that the numbers wholly favour the former over the latter, opposition parties in the provincial assembly this week tried their best to remind the government that they do count for something and that even if the government manages to steamroll them, they have a voice.

The sixth session of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly had been called on the request of the opposition parties, with 15 call-to-attention notices on the assembly’s agenda, including the all-important Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service.

However, the government very tactfully ensured that the subject will not be broached, or at least, will be buried so far down the agenda that the opposition will get very little time to broach it.

And this tact proved to be correct with the opposition mired over the Local Government Amendment Bill 2019 which the government passed during the week to empower local governments at the Tehsil level.



K-P Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Ghani had blocked Bahadur Khan of the opposition Awami National Party (ANP) to talk about the bill which triggered the opposition into vociferous protest.

The opposition also submitted up to 99 amendments in the proposed local government 2019, which aimed to make the district-level government the centre of power for local government.

The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, fully aware of its absolute strength in the provincial assembly, defended the draft bill and blunted the opposition’s demands for amendments.

The opposition knew PTI’s playbook. They also knew that going on head-to-head with the government over the bill will have no effect. Hence, they occupied space on the assembly floor, encircling the speaker’s chair and launched a full-throated — though ultimately futile — resistance to the bill.

Amid the cacophony, the K-P assembly passed the bill.

The PTI-led government also extended all laws and regulations to the merged districts, replacing the interim regulations for the seven tribal districts. As a last resort, opposition members resigned from the standing committees of the provincial assembly. The K-P assembly speaker, though, refused to accept the resignations. Offering a carrot, Ghani told the opposition that development funds will be released according to the seats of the ruling and opposition benches.

The opposition and the ruling parties have agreed on a formula whereby 65% of the development funds will go to the ruling party, while 35% of the funds will be allocated to the opposition. But the opposition claimed that the formula has been disregarded because they have yet to receive their share of development funds.

The opposition further demanded that the District Development Advisory Committee (DDAC) chairmanship be given to the opposition. The body monitors award of development funds.

However, this demand was also declined.

This infuriated the opposition who demanded a meeting with K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan to discuss their issues.

Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) leader and former K-P chief minister Akram Khan Durrani stated past governments, whether they were ANP’s led by Haider Khan Hoti or even the PTI-led government by Pervez Khattak, the opposition was never ignored over release of development funds but the incumbent government had failed to address the grievances of opposing parties.

The assembly also kept erupting with complaints about corruption in the Billion trees Tsunami. But with the concerned standing committee of the parliament yet to meet, the opposition parties staged a protest over this as well.

Provincial Minister Shaukat Yousafzai, who is the chairman of the relevant party, noted that meetings of the committees could not be called owing to the resignation of lawmakers from the opposition benches from these bodies.

The ruling party, though, assured the house that after Ramazan, they will a meeting to address the allegations raised in the massive tree plantation programme. Earlier in the week, Durrani had submitted a call-to-attention notice in which he urged the K-P assembly speaker to dedicate the next session of the house to discuss private member bills and to hear issues of public interest.

But the government intends to present the financial budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 in the next session which will not allow any time or space for a discussion on the burning issue of BRT.

K-P Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai, though, stated, that the agenda of the session had been decided in advance and that with consent from the opposition, BRT was placed in the last segment of the agenda. “We know that the opposition aims to politick over the BRT, hence we placed it last in the list” Yousafzai stated.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2019.