Resolutions in limbo: Political parties round on govt

Absence of speaker from NA has held up proceedings.

ISLAMABAD:

The government’s integrity has again been questioned, this time over its failure to keep promises made during the All Parties Conference (APC).

Leaders from across the political spectrum attended the APC, but they have now expressed concerns over the non-implementation of resolutions made during the conference.

The government was asked to implement a resolution, passed in October 2008, from a joint session of parliament, as well as one approved after parliament was briefed on the US raid in Abbottabad in which al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was killed.

The absence of Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza has been cited as a reason for non-implementaion. According to parliamentary practice, the speaker of the National Assembly constitutes committees, in consultation with parliamentary leaders, which would then implement resolutions.

The ongoing NA session started on October 3 but Mirza has been out of the country. Since the speaker’s presence is a requirement, according to an official from the NA, the government has not presented the APC resolution before the house. Once the resolution is presented before the house, the official explained, the acting speaker can also set up a committee. Mirza has been abroad but is due to reach Karachi on Sunday (today). She is likely to attend the NA session on Monday, it has been learnt.

When asked for his comments, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Information Secretary Senator Mushahidullah Khan was in a resigned mood. “They make commitments and then forget,” he told The Express Tribune. “Delays in taking the initiative is an old practice of the government,” he added.

Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, chief of the PPP-Sherpao, said the government seemed reluctant to follow through on the resolutions. “It’s becoming pointless,” he said, adding that the deputy speaker of the National Assembly can also constitute a parliamentary committee in the absence of the speaker.

Bushra Gohar from the Awami National Party (ANP) questioned the need for a new parliamentary party committee. “There already exists a parliamentary committee on national security which is headed by Senator Raza Rabbani. The APC should have assigned the task of implementation to the existing committee,” she said. Gohar added that the government should lay the resolution before parliament so that it could be discussed in full.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2011.