ISLAMABAD: The appointment of leader of the opposition in National Assembly has attained significance since, as the slot will play a decisive role in selection of a caretaker prime minister, who will supervise the next general elections in the country.
His role will be important in the upcoming actions on national issues related to the Parliament including appointment of two members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Chairmen of 12 important standing committees of the house and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman.
The members of major opposition party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who submitted their resignations in protest on no-trust motion passage, that ousted their government, could reconsider their decision of quitting the house. Well placed parliamentary sources told The News on Friday that Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf will start verification of resignations of PTI’s 123 members on Monday as they are being invited individually to verify the resignation paper that reached the speaker’s office.
Sources said that verification process is tedious, but the speaker, who has earlier served as the prime minister of the country, does not want to linger it. The criteria for summoning of the members could be constituency wise or in the alphabetic order.
In another proposal, the members from the federal capital and nearby towns would get preference in it. The Election Commission is prepared to hold by-elections on any number of seats falling vacant any time soon. It could conveniently hold hundred-plus by-elections.
The sources clarified that the general elections would need fresh delimitations, and other requirements are to be fulfilled. The commission has announced schedule for by-poll on a Karachi NA seat, rendered vacant due to demise of MQM MNA Iqbal Muhammad Ali Khan last month. The election will take place in the constituency in mid-next month.
The NA session that has been scheduled to begin from Monday, May 9, has attained significance wherein the PTI members, other than those who have been declared as defecting by the party, would start returning to the house. As soon as the new leader of opposition is appointed by the speaker, he would ask the government to fill the two vacant seats of the ECP. The process will be initiated the next week and the consensus of the leaders of house and opposition would pave the way for completion of the commission. Two posts in the commission are lying vacant for one year due to strained relations between the previous PTI government and the then opposition, sources said. At least 12 important standing committees are without their chairmen including Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The new leader of opposition would be the chairman of the PAC which is viewed as the most important committee of the house. The leader of opposition will be entitled to all perks and privileges of a federal minister. He is entitled to flutter flags at his residence and car as well.
In another action, the leader of opposition will have big say in appointment of new NAB chief. It is likely that as soon the leaders of the two divides of the house reach an agreement, some amendments to the NAB laws would be introduced that would remove some anomalies including one that the PTI government introduced to keep the hands of NAB away from its scrutiny and accountability, the sources added.