Legislation in parliament: Joint parliamentary opposition forms steering body

ISLAMABAD: The “joint parliamentary opposition” on Wednesday decided to constitute a steering committee comprising members of all opposition parties for taking a decision and also set up a “joint strategy” for holding talks with the government with regard to legislation in the parliament.

The decision was taken during a dinner hosted by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari for parliamentarians of the opposition parties at the Parliament House.

According to a PPP statement, all opposition members of the National Assembly and the Senate attended the dinner, including opposition leader in the National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif. A similar dinner was hosted by Shehbaz a day earlier for the parliamentarians from opposition parties.

A decision was made to form a steering committee comprising members of all the opposition parties, which would be responsible for taking decisions within the parliament, besides a “joint strategy” was also devised for holding talks with the government.

Earlier in the day, the government postponed the joint sitting of the parliament and decided to hold talks with the opposition on controversial bills including the one pertaining to use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the elections.

While addressing the participants, Bilawal said that all the decisions of opposition in Parliament would be taken by the steering committee.

He said that the government had to flee from joint-sitting of the parliament due to joint efforts of the opposition. He maintained that the government had to postpone the joint sitting of the parliament following contacts of the opposition with the coalition partners.

“Parliament is the appropriate forum where we can foil Imran Khan’s policies,” he added.

The dinner meeting was also attended by Khursheed Shah, Sherry Rehman, Yousuf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Naveed Qamar, Shazia Marri, Khawaja Asif, Mohsin Dawar, Senator Hidayatullah, Azam Nazir Tarar, Asad Mahmood, Agha Hussain Baloch, and Sardar Muhammad Shafiq among others.

Talking to reporters, the PML-N president and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Shehbaz Sharif, said that the “joint opposition” has stated in categorical terms that it would not allow the government to get the “fraud” machines – the electronic voting machines (EVMs) – law passed from the joint sitting of the parliament.

“Everybody saw that the government was defeated on two bills in the National Assembly the other day, as the votes of the joint opposition was more than the votes of the government,” he said.

He added that the government wanted to bring the “black laws” pertaining to the electoral reforms based on an “ill intention”. “But they [the government] forgot that they also made an attempt in 2018 general elections through the RTS [results transmitting system] …the same way they were bringing this machine [the EVMs],” he said, adding that the PTI’s coalition partners have also announced a non-confidence on these matters.

PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, while talking to reporters, asked Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry that instead of running away, he should admit the “fact” and accept that the government did not have the required numbers to get the bills passed from the joint session.

She claimed that not only the allies, but the PTI’sown members were not ready to back the legislation. She questioned as to why did the government remember to hold talks with the opposition after convening the joint sitting of the parliament.

Earlier, senior PPP leader Khursheed Shah held a meeting with Shehbaz and exchanged views on the prevailing political situation as well as the joint strategy of all the opposition parties against the government.

It was followed Shah’s meeting with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman at the latter’s residence, in which sources said that the two held discussions on the political situation of the country as well as a joint effort of the opposition parties against the government within the parliament.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021