Parliament to hold high-stakes session

Lawmakers meet today to forge consensus on eight critical issues and chart a path forward

ISLAMABAD:

The parliament is all set to discuss eight key issues being faced by the country as well as take important decisions to enforce the state’s writ in connection with an ongoing anti-government campaign by former premier Imran Khan’s party when the country is battling to avert default and elections are just around the corner.

The precarious security situation is on top of the agenda. Though the word election is missing from the agenda issued for the joint sitting of parliament, the upcoming elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the question whether the country should go for polls in the two provinces first or opt for general elections across the country is expected to dominate the debate.

The government decided to summon the joint sitting of parliament after the ruling PML-N and its allied parties met at the Prime Minister House on March 20 to deliberate on the ongoing political and economic situation in the midst of prolonged anti-government defiance by Imran Khan and his party.

In the six-hour long huddle on Monday, the ruling coalition vowed to get tough on the PTI, claiming that the former ruling party had become a terrorist outfit over its involvement in attacking the state institutions, including the army, judiciary, and law-enforcement agencies.

It not only condemned the attacks carried out on the police and Rangers allegedly on the orders of the PTI chairman, when they went to Imran's Zaman Park residence in Lahore and when Imran came with his supporters to a court in Islamabad the other day, but announced that the joint session of parliament on March 22 (today) would take important decisions to ensure the writ of the state. The joint session will begin at 4pm.

According to the agenda, the joint sitting of the parliament will take up eight key issues: law and order and terrorism; economic policy; Jammu and Kashmir issue; respect for national institutions; China-Pakistan Economic Corridor; population explosion; climate change impacts; and foreign policy.

The agenda states that the parliamentarians will discuss the national issues in order to create awareness and build consensus on the eight major issues.

Amid alarming rise in terrorism, the parliamentarians are likely to discuss the mistakes committed in the recent past and give a way forward on how to equip law enforcers with modern equipment to counter the threats.

They would also take up the issue of smear campaigns run against the institutions every now and then.

The parliament would also examine the causes of delay in CPEC projects, especially, during the PTI rule.

In addition, it would contemplate on the Kashmir issue since India stripped the valley of its special status.

The devastating floods and havoc caused by them across the country would also be discussed in detail.

Apart from the domestic political environment, the joint sitting would envisage where the country’s interests converge amid the changing geopolitical environment.

Though elections and national census is not listed as the agenda items, it is expected that the House would deliberate on legal and constitutional hindrances if the elections are separately held in the country.

The PTI chief has been demanding snap polls and holding rallies and protests in different cities to force elections on the federal government since his ouster through a vote of no-confidence in April last year.

He had even dissolved the Punjab and K-P assemblies for the purpose.

In response, the government has been opposing the demand and the authorities concerned have booked Imran and PTI leadership in dozens of cases.

Also, the ruling coalition is trying to build consensus that elections should be held simultaneously once the incumbent government completes the constitutional term.

The deadlock has led to political instability and deteriorated economic situation.

Terrorism has reared its ugly head again as the country recently saw a surge in violent attacks.

To add insult to injury, neither the International Monetary Fund (IMF) nor any friendly country or any other state has so far provided cash-strapped Pakistan with funds.

Inflation has broken several decades’ record, petroleum products are at the highest level, currency devaluation is at its peak and, amid all this, the country’s political leadership has failed to develop consensus on key issues, including the date for the general elections.

Recently, the Supreme Court ruled that elections must be held in Punjab and K-P within 90 days of their dissolution.

The ECP has already fixed April 30 as the date for polls in Punjab but the federal government as well as Sindh and Balochistan governments have expressed their concern over the holding of polls in only two provinces.

They demanded that elections in all the provinces and Centre be held at the same time.

The government has been arguing that if elections in Punjab are held now, the new provincial government will have influence on polls to the National Assembly.

The ruling coalition is expected to pass several resolutions in the session.