PHC directions to KP Assembly speaker irk Rabbani

ISLAMABAD: Former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani has said it is unfortunate that the Peshawar High Court had to issue directions to the speaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly to take the oath from its newly-elected members.

“Such directions are infringement on the sovereignty of the provincial assembly,” he said in a statement on Thursday. He said this infringement on the provincial assembly’s sovereignty and slur on the office of the speaker were caused by non-adherence to the Constitution and rules by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and the speaker.

Following the Constitution, he said, the chief minister should have advised the government to summon an assembly session for the purpose of oath-taking or, in alternate, if a requisition had been moved within the rules and Constitution, the speaker should have summoned a session of the assembly within 14 days. He said non-adherence to the rules and Constitution brought about a situation where the speaker was directed and made subject to judicial proceedings in the running of the House, which according to the Constitution he could not. It is also unfortunate that to gain political advantage, the rules and Constitution are set aside that opens gates for interference in the proceedings of the provincial assembly from the judiciary.