Oath-taking on reserved seats: Governor calls PA session, KP govt terms move illegal

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor and provincial government have locked horns over the issue of summoning the provincial assembly session for oath-taking of MPAs elected on reserved seats.

The KP Governor, Ghulam Ali, summoned the session of the provincial assembly on March 22 for the oath-taking of members elected on the seats reserved for women.

“The governor while exercising his powers under clause (a) of Article 109 of the Constitution summoned the assembly session on March 22 at 3 pm,” stated an order, which was also conveyed to the secretary for the assembly.

Reacting to the governor’s letter for the assembly session, the spokesman for the provincial government Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif termed it illegal. He said the assembly speaker had the discretion to call the session while the governor could only send a request.

The spokesman asked the KP governor to step down after the defeat of his party in the general election. He alleged that the KP governor had a record of creating political controversies and opened a new Pandora’s box by summoning the assembly.

The spokesman said the government was consulting constitutional experts over the issue of letter by the KP governor for calling the assembly into session.

The opposition members of the KP Assembly the other day told the media that the speaker was delaying the session to avoid oath-taking of MPAs elected on the seats reserved for women and notified by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Opposition leader Dr Ibadullah Khan asked Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati to call the session for oath-taking of women MPAs as the house was

incomplete without them for the Senate elections to be held on April 2. The opposition leader, along with other parliamentarians, told the media that they would move the court if the session was not called in time.