Speaker fails in reconciliation efforts between govt, opposition

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar on Tuesday sought cooperation of the opposition parties for smooth proceedings of the House but failed in his attempt to reach reconciliation between the two sides.

The Speaker on Tuesday called a meeting of senior parliamentarians from the government and opposition benches in his chamber but two sides could not reach to run proceeding of the National Assembly peacefully.

Asad Qaisar requested the opposition to cooperate in executing proceeding as per agenda and help in completing order of the day. However, the PPP parliamentarian Syed Khursheed Shah and former speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said it was responsibility of the government to ensure smooth functioning of the House.

The meeting was attended by Khursheed Shah, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Asadur Rehman, Naveed Qamar, Asad Mahmood, Interior Minister Brig (R) Ejaz Shah, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan and others.

The first two-day proceedings of ongoing session of the National Assembly witnessed uproar and sloganeering as the opposition's parliamentarians unleashed strong criticism on the prime minister for giving a statement during his visit to Iran.

On first day of the session, the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari made mockery of reshuffle in the Federal Cabinet.