Opposition protests truant ministers in K-P Assembly

Provincial govt introduces four legislative proposals amid protest

PESHAWAR: The provincial government introduced four legislative proposals in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly on Monday even as the opposition parties erupted in protest over the absence of ministers and for not convening the session at the request of the opposition.

The K-P Assembly resumed on Monday with Speaker Mushtaq Ghani, after a gap of a month. However, the house was missing 14 members, including Special Assistant to the Chief Minister Ghazan Jamal, who have all been suspended by the Election Commission of Pakistan for failing to file their tax returns.

Also, absent from Monday’s session were the three ruling party members who had been sacked from the provincial cabinet last month. K-P Assembly Secretariat sources, meanwhile, said that when these members do return to the house, their seats will be changed and they will sit on the backbenches of the assembly.

During the session, provincial law and finance ministers presented the K-P Stamp (Amendment) Ordinance 2019, and the K-P Finance (Amendment) Ordinance 2019, before the house respectively. The law and local government ministers also introduced the K-P Universities (Second Amendment) Bill 2020, and the Galiyat Development Authority (Amendment) Bill 2020.

The session, however, did not take up any of the privilege motions, adjournment motions or the call-to-attention-notices (CANs) because the opposition started protesting against the absence of government ministers even though the assembly was resuming after such a long time.

K-P Law Minister Sultan Mahmood Khan and Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai termed the opposition’s protest as uncalled for.

Earlier, as the session resumed, Leader of the Opposition in the K-P Assembly Akram Khan Durrani said that they have been trying to get the house to run smoothly, but the treasury benches do not pay any heed to their requests.

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Pakistan (MMAP) lawmaker further lamented that the speaker did not follow the rules of business and adjourned the session.

Complaining about the absence of government ministers from the assembly session, Durrani said the opposition will not allow this to continue and demanded that all ministers must attend the assembly session.

Durrani, who was once the chief minister of K-P, further complained that the opposition had requested Speaker Ghani to hold a session of the assembly by providing a complete agenda, but the speaker declined their request, citing technical reasons.

He said that if the treasury benches continue this practice, the opposition will not let the session proceed.

The opposition parties the protested against the absence of ministers from the house and the government’s attitude towards the house business.

The protest continued for nearly a quarter of an hour after which the speaker suspended the session.

Later, while speaking to the media outside the K-P Assembly hall, the opposition leader said that the speaker had summoned a session but had failed to ensure the presence of ministers.

“We have never witnessed such a weak speaker in the assembly’s history and we will not tolerate such behaviour from the treasury benches,” he asserted.

Durrani further maintained that the provincial assembly speaker had declined their request to hold a session several times. As a result, he said that the opposition had decided to let the speaker run the house.

Hence, when the session did resume, the opposition continued their protest. Later, the speaker adjourned the session until Tuesday (today).

Opposition accused of disrespecting house

K-P Information Minister Yousafzai later said that the opposition has no agenda to discuss in the house and claimed that their disruption of the assembly session was tantamount to disrupting the sanctity of the house.

Replying to the opposition’s accusations that their request to hold a session had been denied, Yousafzai conceded that the opposition had submitted a request for convening a session of the assembly on February 7. However, he clarified that the government had already put forward a similar request on February 6 and they wanted to accommodate the opposition’s points into the agenda.

The speaker has the authority to suspend the membership of any member for a period for using abusive language, he added.

In response to a question related to the lawsuits filed by Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali Khan against him, the provincial minister said he had not levelled allegations against anyone but he had merely restated what his (Asfandyar Wali Khan) own late party leader Azam Khan Hoti had stated in a television interview.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2020.