- Barrister Gohar says no assembly session can be called without notifying reserved seats
- Bilawal asserts President Alvi will face dual constitution violation charges after his retirement
- PTI founder says Dr Arif Alvi did the right thing by not summoning NA session
PESHAWAR/ISLAMABAD: Debates rage on across the political spectrum of the country on convening the maiden session of the National Assembly with PTI’s leader Barrister Gohar on Tuesday stated that no assembly session could be called without notifying the reserved seats while PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari asserted that President Arif Alvi will face dual constitution violation charges after his retirement.
“The Punjab [Assembly] session was carried out illegally. The Sindh Assembly session was carried out illegally. If the National Assembly session is called that will also be illegal because the assemblies should be convened after all the members of the House are notified,” Barrister Gohar declared.
He urged the Election Commission of Pakistan to take notice of this and notify the reserved seats for the Sunni Ittehad Council, the new home for PTI-backed candidates. On the other hand speaking in the Senate, PTI’s Senator Ali Zafar praised lawmakers of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) now home to PTI-backed independents for walking out of yesterday’s Punjab Assembly session which elected Maryam Nawaz as chief minister.
“This is a token democracy,” he said, hoping that others would support the protest. He noted that, according to the law, reserved seats were given proportionately to political parties with elected candidates. He further said he was pleased with those opposition leaders who had openly stated they had no claim to reserved seats.
“The PPP and PML-N are saying these seats belong to them. This is an undemocratic step. If a political party wants to steal these seats, or lay claim to it, this is illegal and a violation of our Constitution,” he said.
‘President Alvi to face dual constitution violation charges’
On the other hand, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday asserted President Arif Alvi will face dual constitution violation charges after his retirement.
Talking to media men outside the Supreme Court after hearing of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s presidential reference, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said President Arif Alvi is ‘violating’ the constitution of Pakistan by denying summoning the NA session for the swearing-in of the new lawmakers.
It’s a constitutional requirement to summon NA session by February 29, Bilawal said and added the president is denying discharging his duties.
The PPP leader said they will replace Arif Ali as president after the swearing-in of the new house and he will face dual constitution violation cases including one of dissolving the assembly despite VONC motion and another of denying calling the session of the lower house of the parliament.
Criticising the PTI founder, Bilawal Bhutto said the man who is incarcerated in Adiala Jail is not ready to learn from his mistakes. “PPP too made mistakes but one has to learn from it.”
He urged everyone to exercise their power in their respective constitutional domain and underlined the need for respecting each other despite political differences, as this is the only way forward to steer the country out of crises.
PTI founder supports President Alvi’s decision
Meanwhile, the PTI founder on Tuesday said that President Arif Alvi did the right thing by not summoning the National Assembly (NA) session.
During an informal interaction with journalists at Adiala Jail on Tuesday, he claimed the PTI won the election, but ‘rigging’ was done to ‘snatch’ PTI’s seats.
The PTI founder said there could be no greater theft than the public mandate as the whole nation was saying that a ‘20-seater was being made prime minister after unprecedented rigging’. He reiterated his demand for the resignation of the CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja.
Former prime minister Imran Khan alleged the caretaker governments were also against PTI, alleging that the ECP was still engaged in rigging after the elections and announced a protest on Saturday against the alleged theft of PTI’s mandate in the February 8 elections.
The PTI founder, commenting on the letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said he dictated the letter to the PTI leaders and was not sure about its dispatch to the international lender.
Imran Khan said the letter will be dispatched today to the IMF after meeting with the party leaders as they are scheduled to meet him today.
‘Speaker does not have power to summon NA session’
PTI leader Babar Awan on Tuesday said that the power to summon a session of the National Assembly only rested with President Arif Alvi and not Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.
During an informal conversation with reporters in Islamabad, Awan said, “According to the Constitution, the president can summon the National Assembly’s session and the speaker has no authority to summon the session.” He further asserted that summoning the session would be equivalent to going against the Constitution.
“If any government will be formed [in this manner], it would be against the Constitution. The verdict of the case about Qasim Suri’s ruling is present; a speaker can only adjourn a session,” Awan added.
It is to be noted that President Dr Arif Alvi again struck a defiant posture on Monday as he returned a caretaker government’s summary for convening the inaugural session of the National Assembly, prompting Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to call the maiden sitting of the lower house of parliament on February 29.
Alvi, whose presidency is coming to a conclusion within a few weeks, emphasised that he would only approve the summary if the issue of reserved seats for women and minorities was resolved and distributed among the parties, as per law.
However, soon after the president returned the summary, the National Assembly Speaker reportedly summoned the inaugural session on February 29. On that day, the newly-elected lawmakers would take an oath to mark the beginning of the tenure of the assembly.
According to Article 91(2) of the Constitution, the National Assembly “shall meet on the 21st day following the day on which a general election to the assembly is held, unless sooner summoned” by the president.
Since Alvi returned the summary, as confirmed by officials of the Presidency, National Assembly officials said that the speaker had no other option but to call the session. However, a formal statement about summoning the session has yet to be issued.
