PPP wants NA dissolved by Aug 8: Naveed Qamar

ISLAMABAD: Commerce Minister Syed Naveed Qamar said on Tuesday the Pakistan Peoples Party had suggested the government dissolve all the assemblies on August 8.

“However, the decision to dissolve the assemblies has to be taken by the federal government,” he said in an informal talk with media at the Parliament House on Tuesday.

The commerce minister said the PPP has a clear view that the caretaker setup should not go beyond the constitutional period in any case and the party will not support any extension in the current setup.

“We will not back down from our principled stance on legislation on expansion in the current assembly,” he said.

Naveed Qamar said a consensus among political parties was necessary on electoral reforms including the RTS (Results Transmission and Presentation system). He said the PPP wanted electoral reforms before elections.

Later, talking to the media, Law Minister Nazir Tarar said the National Assembly will complete its term and there will be no extension in the assembly’s tenure. “No one has knowledge of future. Decisions are made according to the circumstances,” he said. Tarar said the Election Act has flaws that need to be rectified as the government wants fair, transparent and impartial elections.

The PTI boycotted PCER meeting that has completed examination of seventy proposals as electoral reforms while few proposals would be studied in a day or two. The committee under former Speaker of the National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq had its maiden meeting here on Tuesday and decided to complete the process on war-footing since the National Assembly has about four weeks at its disposal before completing its tenure. Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, who is also federal minister for planning and political affairs, has indicated that the committee’s recommendations would be placed before the two houses of Parliament separately in about two weeks and the same would be adopted without much trouble.

The PPP has formally asked for dissolution of the National Assembly on August 8 and it would give ninety days to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conduct polls. The statement that has come from Syed Naveed Qamar of the PPP, would be discussed by the collation partners in the government. It is inferred from Law Minister Tarrar’s statement about completion of NA’s term that the elections for the national as well as provincial assemblies would be held within sixty days of the completion of the tenure. The PPP proposal could extend the period till ninety days. With this leader of opposition in the National Assembly Now Raja Riaz Ahmad has been left alone with his proposal for an extension of one year for the present National Assembly on account of economic situation. The consultations between Leader of the House (the prime minister) and the leader of the opposition would be starting next week as the National Assembly session could be summoned next Monday, the sources said.

Interestingly name of General retired Nazir Ahmad Butt was proposed by Raja Riaz when Prime Minister Shahbaz had consultation with him early this year.

Senator Syed Ali Zafar wasn’t available for his comments about boycott of the Electoral Reforms Committee.In the meeting of the committee chaired Ayaz Sadiq, the political parties expressed serious concern over the delay in election results, and agreed that delayed results would not be recognised.