The National Assembly on Friday was prorogued and, at the same time, the presiding officer (Deputy Speaker) read out an order of the acting President of Pakistan for convening the joint session of the Parliament on Saturday (September 6) for holding the Presidential election.
On Saturday, the Parliament would hold another presidential election within 11 months. On October 6, 2007, General Pervez Musharraf was elected with his army uniform by the then coalition government, led by Pakistan Muslim League-Q amid resignations of the MNAs of APDM component parties and abstaining of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) from casting its vote.
There will be one-to-one contest among the three candidates - Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Mushahid Hussain Syed of PML-Q and Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui of Pakistan Muslim League-N. Earlier, parliamentarians of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q walked out of the House when the former Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) minister Amir Muqam pointed out that the electricity in district Shangla and upper Swat had been disrupted for the last 17 days and no one was listening to their complaints.
He condemned the attitude of Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and other Wapda authorities and in protest he walked out of the House. Minister for Labour and Manpower Syed Khursheed Shah and Finance Minister Naveed Qamer motivated HIM to rejoin the House. A PML-N female MNA, Begum Ishrat Ashraf also walked out of the House protesting against the killing of the women in Balochistan in the name of honour.
She demanded of the government to take serious action against the culprits and the two Senators who supported the brutal act, justifying it a part of the Baloch culture.
Meanwhile, on a point of order, Hanif Abbasi of PML-N criticised the government for increasing electricity rate by 31percent, saying that in fact it was an increase of 52 percent with different taxes.
He also condemned the government's policies for not reducing the oil prices despite the fact that oil prices had decreased from 152 dollars to 100 dollars per barrel in the international market, whereas the government did not transfer the relief to the masses. He warned the government of serious reaction from the masses if they were not given relief.
Marvi Memon of PML-Q condemned the yet another attack of Nato forces on Thursday in the tribal areas, saying that the Nato forces again violated the Pakistani border and killed more innocent people.
She said that the government should take practical steps to ensure halting of any such action again instead of passing mere condemnation resolutions in the Houses. Anosha Rehman of PML-N condemned the incident of killing of five women in Balochistan in the name of honour, terming against the spirit of the Islam and its teachings.