
Lawmakers from across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will gather in the provincial assembly today to discuss the eight-point agenda of the opposition on the day when the house completes its first parliamentary year.
This will be the second session of the assembly this month as the opposition parties had earlier called a session which lasted from April 26 to May 14.
However, as soon as that session concluded, opposition lawmakers had submitted a requisition, signed by 48 MPAs, asking the speaker to call another one to discuss an eight-point agenda that was submitted along with the request.
On Monday, Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser had called the session for 3pm on Wednesday.
The opposition’s agenda focuses on the health department’s performance, law and order, hailstorm in parts of the province and the government’s efforts to mitigate the damage, price hike, poverty and unemployment, government policy about the 2014-15 Annual Development Programme (ADP) and utilisation of the 2013-14 ADP, inequitable distribution of provincial resources and political interference in government departments.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) parliamentary leader, Sardar Aurganzeb Nalotha, told The Express Tribune the opposition had called the session to discuss some pertinent issues.
Nalotha said issues related to the health department, inequitable distribution of resources and preparations for next year’s ADP could not be discussed during the previous session. He informed that during a meeting of parliamentary leaders on May 18, the government had tried to persuade opposition parties to withdraw the requisition saying the government was busy with budget preparation.
However, he said opposition leaders did not concede to the government’s request to take back the requisition call, because they would have to collect signatures from all 48 lawmakers, which could not be done since they were away in their districts.
The PML-N leader said the opposition wanted to ensure that the government will not push the opposition against the wall in the upcoming budget as it did last year.
He said if the opposition’s agenda was not fully discussed in this session, they would call another session after the budget.
This is going to be the fifth session called by opposition parties during the ongoing parliamentary year.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2014.
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