Following footsteps: NA threatens to hold street session

Opposition wants PM, not interior minister, to present policy statement on drones.

ISLAMABAD:

The Lower House of Parliament following the footsteps of Senate has threatened to hold a street session if Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif fails to put forward a policy statement before the house on the drones issue today.

The opposition has made up its mind but the chances of Prime Minister attending Monday’s (today’s) session are ‘minimal’.

Sources privy to the matter told The Express Tribune that taking the lead, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan will wind up the ongoing debate, which started after a US drone strike that killed the TTP chief Hakeemullah Mehsud and disrupted the peace talks with Taliban.



But the opposition demands that the policy statement be presented by the premier himself which is unlikely to happen.

The ongoing sixth session of the National Assembly began two days after the US drone strike and has key issues on its agenda. Debate over the agenda has been suspended since the prime minister did not attend any proceedings of the house last week and therefore is yet to present his policy statement.

Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah had announced on Friday that the opposition would hold a parallel session outside the Parliament House as it was done by opposition parties in the Senate.

In the meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) accused the government of making false statements of serving a demarche to US Ambassador to Pakistan following the drone hit.

“The Ambassador was simply called for a meeting and the Pakistani people learnt from the US State Department that no demarche has been served to him,” Mazari said in a statement.



She said that the interior minister had announced the decision but the Foreign Office did not take any such action.

“Should we assume there is a disconnect within the ranks of the PML-N government with Chaudhry Nisar taking a strong nationalist position against US actions and the PM too timid to upset the US?” she questioned.

Prime Minister Nawaz Shairf was last seen in the National Assembly two months back, during the presidential elections, since then the leader of the house has not attended any Lower House proceedings.

The opposition has been criticising the treasury benches for not taking the house seriously and have protested on several occasions the absence of federal ministers who are not even present during the question hour.

This has prompted Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar to address the opposition’s concerns and he promised to take up the matter in the meeting of the federal cabinet.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 11^th,2013.