No deadline for Begum Kulsoom to take oath

ISLAMABAD: Deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s wife Begum Kulsoom faces no deadline or time-frame to take oath as a member of the National Assembly (MNA) after her election on Sunday.

Neither the Constitution nor the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly fix any time limit for her or any other elected lawmaker to be sworn as legislator. Article 65 of the Constitution says a person elected to the national or provincial assembly or the Senate shall not sit or vote until he has taken the oath in the form set out in the Third Schedule.

Sections 6 and 7 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly say an elected person shall, before taking his seat, make oath. There shall be a roll of members which shall be signed by everyone after making the oath.

Section 69 says the first hour of every sitting, after the recitation from the Holy Quran, and taking oath by members, if any, shall be available for asking and answering of questions. Begum Kulsoom’s return to Pakistan is uncertain due to her treatment in London. However, her stay there for any length of time will not affect her election to the National Assembly. Obviously, she will take oath as the MNA immediately after she will fly back into Pakistan.

A close aide of Nawaz Sharif and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs told the Islamabad accountability court on Tuesday that Begum Kulsoom was scheduled to undergo another surgery in the next couple of days. Therefore, an exact date for her return to Pakistan cannot be ascertained.

He also said that Nawaz Sharif and other members of the family were in Britain to be with her. He was not sure when they will come back. When Begum Kulsoom will appear in the National Assembly, the first thing she will do will be to take oath.

She had not herself filed her nomination papers with the returning officer of NA-120 and some Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders had done this. Even before the start of the election campaign, she left for London where she was first diagnosed with throat cancer. Later, doctors detected that it was blood cancer. Because of her absence from Pakistan, she could not take part in the campaign even once. Her husband also departed from Britain and could not participate in the canvassing. The job was left to their daughter, Maryam.