Joint session of Parliament: Opposition demands proposed legislative details in black and white

ISLAMABAD: The steering committee of the opposition in Parliament has asserted that a decision on consultation with the government over 20 bills related to the ordinances will only be made after it receives proposed legislative details in writing from the National Assembly Speaker.

The steering committee of the joint opposition in the parliament held its meeting in the chamber of the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, which was attended by Opposition Leader in the Senate Yusuf Raza Gilani, Syed Naveed Qamar, Senator Sherry Rehman, Senator Farooq H Naek, Shazia Marri, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Khawaja Asif, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Senator Kamran Murtaza and Shahida Akhtar.

Talking to the media after the meeting, parliamentary leader of the PPP in the Senate, Sherry Rehman, said it was decided that the steering committee would consider further action upon the receipt of written request from the speaker and after consultation with the party leadership, adding, “There is no question of approaching the government or speaker on our part for seeking cancellation or reversion of the joint session they had called.” Sherry Rehman asserted the opposition parties discussed the strategy on the pending legislative business that included the recently promulgated ordinances.

“The steering committee will consider further action after receiving in writing from the speaker regarding bills and ordinances to be discussed in the joint session,” said Sherry, adding that all those bills and ordinances could be discussed in the parliamentary committee as “we believe in the supremacy of parliament and dialogue but obviously, our leadership will take the final decision after the steering committee deliberations.”

Rejecting the government’s claims that the opposition was behind the cancellation of the joint session, she said the joint session of the parliament was called off by the government because they were politically isolated by their allies and lacking the numbers to bulldoze the bills.

“They are afraid of being exposed and of facing defeats in the parliament while we have our numbers in the parliament and support of the people of Pakistan,” Sherry claimed.

Former speaker National Assembly Sardar Sadiq said, “The Speaker called me and Naveed Qamar and said he wanted the government and the opposition to sit down and talk about the 20 bills related to the ordinances. We responded that we will talk to the party leadership first.”

At the request of the party leadership, a steering committee meeting was held and it was decided that after receiving in writing from the Speaker National Assembly, the matter would be taken to the steering committee and after consultation, the leadership would respond to the government.