MPs taking oath in the National Assembly of Pakistan (File)
Islamabad: The session of the National Assembly was called by President Dr. Arif Alvi after delaying the process for several days due to no party getting a clear majority in the General Assembly elections of Pakistan. Following his call, Pakistan’s newly elected MPs took oath during the first session of Parliament on Thursday. Alvi was initially refusing to call the session due to differences with the caretaker government over the issue of allotting reserved seats to candidates supported by former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party. But after the deadline ended, he called the National Assembly on the last day.
The inaugural session of the 16th Parliament, chaired by outgoing Speaker of the previous Parliament Raja Pervez Ashraf, began after a delay of more than an hour. Ashraf administered the oath to the newly elected MPs amid unruly scenes as MPs backed by 71-year-old Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) raised slogans against alleged vote rigging in the February 8 general elections. After being sworn in, MPs sign the Register Roll of the National Assembly to officially become members.
Shahbaz and Bilawal Bhutto also took oath along with Nawaz Sharif.
The new MPs who took oath include Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif, PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Zardari and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. Alvi initially approved a move by the caretaker Parliamentary Affairs Ministry to convene the first session of the newly-elected National Assembly on February 29, according to a statement posted by the President’s X account. “Subject to certain objections, President Dr. Arif Alvi, in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 54(1) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, has summoned the National Assembly on February 29,” the statement said. It said the President gave his approval keeping in mind the mandate and implications of the timeline given in Article 91(2) and subject to certain reservations and expecting a resolution of the issue of reserved seats before the 21st day of .
Now PM election will be held on Saturday
The late night statement also took issue with the tone of the summary sent to Alvi by caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakkar, which said the President was calling the session as he expected the issue of reserved seats to be resolved. 21st day after voting, as envisaged in the law. As per constitutional provisions, the National Assembly must convene within 21 days of the election, and 29 February is the mandatory date under Article 91. The newly elected National Assembly will elect a new Speaker and Deputy Speaker. (Reuters)
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