Azadi March: Senate, NA sessions summoned separately amid political stand-off

The sessions of both houses of parliament have been summoned separately amid continued political stand-off in the wake of JUI-F Azadi March and sit-in protest for the last five days.

The Senate which has been summoned on the requisition of the opposition parties will meet today (Tuesday) while the National Assembly summoned by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will meet on Thursday.

The National Assembly session was scheduled on November 2 but the government delayed it due to Jamiat Ulema-e Islam-Fazlur Rehman (JUI-F) 'Azadi march'.

In marked contrast, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had summoned a joint session of Parliament on 2 September 2014 - two days after the PTI 126 day dharna began on 30 August 2014.

"The government paid no heed to summoning a joint sitting of Parliament to discuss the most burning topic in parliament, of the Azadi March, which is the appropriate platform to discuss such issues", admitted a ruling party lawmaker on condition of anonymity. He stated that the government should have summoned both the houses soon after the announcement of the Azadi March.

A notification issued by the Senate Secretariat on Wednesday says that Senate chairman has summoned the Senate on Tuesday (November 5) at 3 pm in the Parliament House under the powers conferred to him by Article 54, read with Article 61, of the Constitution.

The opposition on Tuesday had requisitioned a Senate session to discuss the current political situation in the country arising out of the government's political victimization of senior opposition leaders and the government's future strategy on Kashmir.

According to notification issued by National Assembly Secretariat, the President has summoned the session of the National Assembly on Thursday (November 7, 2019) at 4:00 pm.

The President has summoned the session in exercise of powers conferred by clause (1) of Article-54 of the Constitution of Islamic republic of Pakistan.

Talking to Business Recorder, senior Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Nawab Muhammad Yousuf Talpur said the PTI government is not giving importance to parliament and is issuing ordinances instead of engaging in passing legislation in the house.

He said that at the height of the confrontation between the PML-N government and the PTI in 2014, PPP had come out with the idea of immediately convening a joint parliamentary session. He said that it was quickly accepted by the then PML-N government, which summoned the joint sitting to discuss the confrontation created by the dharna.

Lt-Gen Abdul Qayyum (Retd) of PML-N said that PTI government is not giving importance to Parliament and has made it irrelevant. He said that parliament is the democratic forum empowered to resolve all issues.

While criticizing the PTI government on issuing ordinances he added that the opposition would support any legislation that is for welfare of the people.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019