MNAs take oath at inaugural session of 16th National Assembly
The maiden session of the 16th National Assembly was set into motion at the Parliament House in Islamabad after over an hour's delay on Thursday in which newly-elected lawmakers took oath of their office, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Outgoing Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf administered oath to the newly-elected MNAs amid noisy slogans raised by the supporters of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
The session began with the recitation from Holy Quran and later a Naat was also recited. Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto, Maulana Fazlur Rehman were among the top politicians present in the House.
A little before the swearing-in of the lawmakers, the House was echoed with pro-PTI slogans of ‘Ayi Ayi PTI’.
The speaker then interfered urging the rival MNAs-elect to take their seats, emphasising that they first “needed to become members” of the lower house.
Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif were “welcomed” into the House with pro-PTI slogans as they took their seats after shaking hands with Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto.
As many as 282 members of the National Assembly out of 336 took oath and the same number then signed the roll of members.
The PTI-supported lawmakers also chanted slogans in support of Imran Khan like “Imran Khan zindabad”.
Talking to newsmen, PTI leader Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said that only those people deserved to sit in the parliament who enjoyed the people’s mandate, and had not stolen it from any other party. He said the kind of rigging witnessed in the general elections held on February 8 was that of ‘fifth generation’. “The purpose of elections is to strengthen democracy,” he said.
Talking to reporters, Zain Qureshi, another PTI leader and son of former foreign minister and party stalwart Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said that today he was missing his father as well as ex-PTI chairman Imran Khan. “We are democratic people. And we love democracy,” he said, and added, “This time we are going to sit on the opposition benches. And we will prove to be a good opposition.”
Keeping in mind President Arif Alvi’s refusal to summon the session, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf took the matters into his own hands and called the session on the deadline day — Feb 29.
Seeing the development, President Alvi also took a U-turn from his earlier stance and assented to the summary seeking the inaugural session of the newly-elected lower house of the parliament.
Ayaz Sadiq, Ghulam Mustafa file nomination papers for speaker, deputy posts
The joint candidate of PML-N and allies for speaker’s slot in the National Assembly, Azaz Sadiq, submitted his nomination papers at the Assembly Secretariat after taking oath as MNA.
Ghulam Mustafa Shah also filed his nomination papers for the post of NA deputy speaker.
The election of speaker and deputy speaker will be held on March 2 (Saturday) and the new prime minister will be elected on March 3 (Sunday).
PML-N and allies’ candidate for prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, needs 169 to become premier again. However, they have support of 210 newly-elected MNAs.
Raja Ashraf, Arif Alvi call NA session
Reluctant President Alvi caved in to summoning the NA session but he attached some “conditions”, expecting the issue of Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) reserved seats will re resolved immediately.
According to a statement uploaded on X platform, “The President accorded his approval while keeping in view the mandate and implications of the timeline given in Article 91 (2) and subject to some reservations and expecting the resolution of the issue of the reserved seats before the 21st day after the general elections.
Alvi’s earlier decision to not to summon an NA session was heavily criticised by the PML-N and PPP, who termed the delay against the Constitution.
President Alvi has said that his returning the summary for a National Assembly session was “very much in accordance with the provisions of Article 48(1)” of the Constitution. “It is not understood on what grounds it has been taken as a partisan act, though it was also aimed at the completion of the National Assembly in accordance with Article 51 of the Constitution.”
The president clarified that he “did not want to indulge and engage himself or to dwell into such baseless accusations of constitutional violation attributed in the summary”.
He further remarked that it was “needless to remind that a caretaker prime minister/setup was merely responsible to ensure conducive conditions for the peaceful, fair and transparent holding of the general elections, on which many quarters had expressed reservations”.
Alvi said that the “tone and tenor” of the summary sent by Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar was “unfortunate”.
A statement issued by the President House quoted said: “Summaries are not usually addressed in this way. It is sad that the chief executive of the country addresses the head of the state in the first form and resorts to unacceptable language and allegations without any substance.”
“The President said that he could not be oblivious of some incongruities in the electoral process and the process of formation of the government. He had to keep national interest in his view, for cohesiveness and betterment of the nation,” the statement added.
Foolproof security arrangements
Foolproof security arrangements were made in and around Parliament House in Islamabad as the inaugural session of the newly-elected National Assembly held.
A contingent of Frontier Constabulary and Islamabad Capital Territory police was posted at the main gate of the parliament.
All traffic which was entering Red Zone was diverted to D-Chowk and Margalla Road.
Meanwhile Sareena Chowk was closed for all sorts of traffic while traffic coming from Murree Road and Club Road was diverted to Embassy Road. Nadra Chowk remained open to bike-riders only.
Amid alternate route plan advisory by ICT traffic police, a long queue of vehicles was reported at Embassy Road in Islamabad.
Reporters Usman Khan and Tayyab Saif