Ruling party mulls convening NA session

Government aims to persuade opposition to shun street protest and join in parliamentary debate over national issues

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Imran Khan and several members of the ruling PTI on Wednesday discussed the possibility of convening the National Assembly session in an effort to persuade the opposition shun street protest and join in parliamentary debate over national issues.

“The role of parliament is very important in a democratic system,” the prime minister was quoted as saying during his meeting with Speaker Asad Qaiser who call on him on Wednesday.

All political parties needed to play a positive role during the current situation created by Covid-19 pandemic, he added.

The opposition parties have launched a movement to oust the PTI-led coalition government at the Centre and have been holding rallies across the country to force the prime minister to resign by January 31.

The prime minister has been arguing the opposition for a political dialogue, saying he was ready to answer all questions in parliament.

He; however, said the opposition started demanding the closure of corruption cases against their leaders whenever the government talks about a dialogue.

On the other hand, the alliance of the opposition parties formed in last September – Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) – has blamed the government for bad governance, unemployment, inflation and of throwing the economy onto the rocks long before the advent of the pandemic.

During his meeting with the premier, the speaker said that parliament played its full role during the first wave of coronavirus and “a joint strategy will soon be formulated after consultation with the opposition parties’ to move the legislative process forward”.

He informed the prime minister that he was busy holding consultations on convening a session of the National Assembly.

In November last year, the opposition parties had boycotted a meeting of parliamentary leaders in which they were to be briefed by “military officials on the current issues of national security”.

The speaker had to cancel a meeting after the combined opposition had decided against attending the meeting to discuss electoral reforms and measures concerning Gilgit-Baltistan elections.

Soon after his meeting with the prime minister, the speaker chaired a meeting with federal ministers, special assistant to the PM and adviser on parliamentary affairs in the Parliament House and discussed with them convening the National Assembly session during the current situation of Covid-19 in the country and consultation with the parliamentary leaders of the opposition parties.

The meeting was attended by federal ministers Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Shafqat Mehmood, Pervaiz Khattak, Asad Umar, Minister of State Ali Muhammad Khan, PTI’s Chief Whip in the National Assembly Malik Muhammad Amir Dogar and Adviser to PM on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Zaheeruddin Babar.

The speaker said that the role of parliament as a forum of public representative was essential for providing relief to the people, adding that it was “time for us to use all possible resources to implement the promises made to the people”.

In addition, he said, “all political parties present in parliament should play their positive role to get the nation out of the difficult situation”.

Qaiser said that a final decision on convening the National Assembly session would be taken soon to meet the constitutional requirement regarding the minimum number of sittings per year, adding people had pinned high hopes with parliament which the government could not ignore.

Qaiser said people have sent the government and the opposition to parliament through their votes and “the opposition needs to play an active role in parliament to fulfil the people’s mandate”.

Despite the grim situation of Covid in the country, Qaiser said the “government has met the expectations of the people”.

In the same breath, he said, “the country was moving in the right direction economically and the economic crisis would be overcome soon.”

The federal ministers, the advisor and the chief whip shared their views on the overall political and economic situation of the country and crucial parliamentary issues.