Summary moved to convene NA session on Aug 12-14

ISLAMABAD: The Minister for Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage, Syed Ali Zafar, on Wednesday said a summary has been moved to convene the inaugural session of the newly-elected National Assembly from August 12 to 14.

Talking to the media outside the Supreme Court, he said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is fulfilling the legal process before summoning the session. He said under the Constitution, it is obligatory to first summon the session of the National Assembly within 21 days after elections and it is imperative that the parliamentary session is held by August 15.

He said in the inaugural session, first all the newly-elected members would take oath, then the new Speaker and Deputy Speaker would be elected followed by election of the prime minister and this process may take three to four days. Elaborating, he said the process of nomination papers, their scrutiny and the election for the three posts is a time consuming process. He said as soon as the newly-elected prime minister would take oath, the job of the caretakers would be over and power would be transferred to the newly-elected government under the law and the Constitution.

Ali Zafar said it was the desire of the caretaker Prime Minister Nasirul Mulk that the newly-elected prime minister could have attended the August 14 ceremony along with the president but completion of the election process is the hurdle.

Replying to a question, he said political statements are coming about the fairness of the elections. He said the ECP has asked the caretaker government for holding an inquiry into the failure of RTS and the government is looking into the request. He said the election have been held and it is now time to look forward. One should wait for the result of the inquiry to be conducted on the failure of the RTS before commenting on it. He said the recounting was allowed under the election laws and there is no harm in recounting votes if it is held in accordance with the law as this removes doubts in the minds of the people. About the power shortages, he said long term planning is required to overcome this problem and some difficult decisions needed to be taken.