Security briefing by army to lawmakers put off

Opposition parties boycott session over NA speaker’s conduct

ISLAMABAD:

National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser has postponed a meeting of parliamentary leaders scheduled for Wednesday (today) -- wherein military officials had to brief them on national security matters – after the opposition lawmakers refused to attend it.

The NA Secretariat tweeted on Tuesday that the session of parliamentary leaders in the upper and lower houses of parliament presided over by the NA speaker on November 11 had been postponed.

It added that the notification for the postponement of the meeting had been issued.

اسپیکر قومی اسمبلی اسد قیصر کی زیرِ صدارت قومی اسمبلی اور سینیٹ میں پارلیمانی رہنماؤں کا مورخہ 11 نومبر کو ہونے والا اجلاس ملتوی.
اجلاس میں قومی سلامتی کے امور پر بریفنگ ہونی تھی۔
قومی اسمبلی سیکرٹیریٹ نے اجلاس کے ملتوی ہونے کا نوٹس جاری کر دیا ہے@RadioPakistan @appcsocialmedia

— National Assembly of Pakistan (@NAofPakistan) November 10, 2020

 

The decision was made after the 11-party opposition alliance, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), boycotted the meeting.

Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information secretary of the PDM, announced that the constituent parties of the alliance had decided not to participate in the session because of the NA speaker’s conduct.

He added that PDM President Maulana Fazlur Rehman had made the decision in consultation with all the parties in the alliance.

Iftikhar maintained that the NA speaker had failed to conduct the proceedings of the lower house as per rules and parliamentary traditions and constantly suppressed the opposition's voice. “It’s impossible to hold any worthwhile discussion in these conditions,” he added.

The PDM information secretary further said the PTI-led federal government had been unable to curb inflation and address the people’s grievances and its failure in every area had become a threat to national security.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the briefing was aimed at developing a national consensus on granting the status of a provisional province to Gilgit-Baltistan.

The briefing was also scheduled in the wake of a new string of terrorist attacks in the country, particularly a bomb blast at a madrassa in Peshawar.

In September this year, the opposition parties had also boycotted a meeting of parliamentary leaders called by the NA speaker to discuss the electoral reforms in G-B.

Opposition leaders were of the view that National Assembly speaker had no authority to meddle in the electoral affairs of G-B. They also pointed out that only the leader of the house could call a meeting of parliamentary leaders.

PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, who is the opposition leader in the lower house of parliament, announced back then that the opposition parties had decided not to cooperate with the government because of its “fascist and dictatorial” attitude.

For the security briefing on Wednesday, a formal invitation was extended to Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, PML-N leader Khawaja Asif and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, MNA Asad Mahmood, PML-Q’s Tariq Bashir Cheema, BNP-M chief Akhtar Mengal, MQM-Pakistan leader Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid.

Besides, senators Mushahidullah Khan, Sherry Rehman, Muhammad Ali Saif, Mir Kabeer Ahmed Muhammad Shahi, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Muhammad Usman Khan Kakar, Sirajul Haq, Sitara Ayaz, Dr Jehanzeb Khan Jamaldini, Anwaul Haq Kakar and Aurganzeb Khan were also invited to attend the session.

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan and Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan, Attorney General Khalid Mahmood Khan, G-B Governor Raja Jalal Hussain Maqpoon, and interim Chief Minister Mir Afzal were also among those who have received an invitation.