With Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) members in the Punjab Assembly tendering resignations, Leader of the Opposition Mian Mehmoodur Rashid has taken a leaf from Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s book and has not shown up for the 10th session of the house.
Currently, the assembly session is thus going on without a leader of the house and the leader of opposition.
In a house of 367 members, the opposition has 56 seats, of which 30 are from the PTI.
So far, resignations of PTI members have not been accepted. The house cannot have a new leader of opposition until the resignation of the incumbent leader has been accepted. A member from Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid took up the issue with the speaker in his chamber and was told the leader of opposition will retain his mantle until the resignation was accepted. In Tuesday’s session, Law Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman appeared to be trying to play the leader of opposition by opposing the resolutions tabled by various treasury lawmakers.
Members from treasury benches tried to voice their concerns on the poor performance of the Punjab Assembly in terms of legislation mentioned in a recent report of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT).
The speaker, however, did not allow the lawmakers to discuss the issue in detail.
Diplomatic and Blue Passports
The assembly unanimously passed a resolution that had not been on the agenda for the day. The resolution said diplomatic passports be given to the speaker and the deputy speaker and blue passports be given to all parliamentarians and senior assembly staff.
The resolution, taken up out of turn, is of great importance.
A clause in the 18th Amendment states that if all four provinces adopted a resolution in their assemblies on the same subject/issue, the federal government shall amend the law for a new legislation as demanded by the provinces. As per information available at the Punjab Assembly, all provincial assemblies have now passed resolutions on the subject.
Hence, the federal government may have to seriously consider giving diplomatic and blue passports to members of provincial assemblies and amending laws in this regard.
The house was adjourned by the speaker - as soon as the resolution was passed - till Wednesday morning.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 22nd, 2014.
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