NA session: Qaiser directs authorities to keep Pak-Afghan border open six days a a week

(Karachi) National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser has directed the authorities to keep Pak-Afghan border open six days a week for commuters and business activity, local media reported on Wednesday.

Qaiser made the ruling while speaking on a calling attention notice moved by Gul Dad Khan and Dr. Haider Ali Khan regarding hampering of economic as well as social activities due to closure of Pak-Afghan border during the National Assembly session.

Speaking on the occasion, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid informed the House that over four hundred thousand people monthly crossed the Pak-Afghan border by road. He said the government will abide by Speaker’s ruling.

Meanwhile, opposition accused Speaker Asad Qaiser of not allowing them to voice their opinions. PML-N' leader Ahsan Iqbal said he is "challenging" the speaker to affirm whether the PML-N had gotten its share of the calling-attention notices and adjournment motions taken up in the last two-and-a-half years.

He said the chair is ignoring PML-N's calling-attention notices and adjournment motions on purpose. He claimed that during the PML-N era, opposition members were allowed to speak for even two hours on end.