Parliament’s joint session: Treasury, opposition face real power test today

ISLAMABAD: The joint session of the Parliament, summoned by President Arif Alvi for Wednesday (today) at 12pm, would prove to be a real test for both the treasury and the opposition.

The government eyes passing more than two dozen bills with the help of its allied parties, while the opposition parties have vowed to foil the treasury’s attempt to get ‘the black laws’ passed at all costs. The bills to be taken up for passage were referred to the joint sitting by the National Assembly after those were not okayed within the stipulated 90 days.

The PTI-led government needs simple majority in the joint sitting of houses currently having total strength of 440 members (341 MNAs and 99 Senators) to get the bills passed. As per data available with The News, the government currently enjoys support of a minimum 221 parliamentarians, including 179 MNAs and 42 senators. According to the calculations, the treasury benches enjoy at least two votes edge over the opposition parties jointly. The opposition parties are supported by 219 parliamentarians, including 162 MNAs and has support of 57 senators.

There are four independent MNAs including Mohsin Dawar, Ali Wazir, and Ali Nawaz Shah, who support opposition while Aslam Bhotani sits on treasury benches. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement having seven MNAs and one senator on Tuesday announced to support the government in passage of all the bills at the joint sitting after its reservations were addressed by Prime Minister Imran Khan and the cabinet members at different sittings.

Federal Minister for Information Technology Tuesday said the decision to support the government’s bill was taken at the party’s Rabta Committee meeting. He said the Prime Minister and Minister for Science and Technology also briefed the MQM members about the technology of Electronic Voting Machines. He said the bills relating to national census and establishment of the Hyderabad Institute of Technology and Management Sciences would also be taken up at the joint sitting of the Parliament on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in this crucial situation, despite government’s claims, the PML-Q was yet to officially announce its support to the controversial legislation. Only a day before, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi chaired a meeting of the PML-Q during which the party leaders expressed concerns over inflation, increasing prices of petroleum products and tariffs of electricity and gas.

“We cannot face our voters in this situation,” they said. The PMLQ in the Parliament is represented by five members of the National Assembly and one Senator. Prime Minister Imran Khan seems confident about becoming successful in getting the bills proposed by the government approved at the joint session.

Taking to his official Instagram account, the premier shared a video in which he could be seen speaking about the session tomorrow: "A sportsman is always sure about winning right from the moment he puts his foot in the field."

Separately, PM Imran Khan Tuesday held meetings with different delegations of members of National Assembly. He met MNAs Tahir Iqbal, Prince Muhammad Nawaz Alai, Javed Iqbal Warraich and Nasir Iqbal and discussed development projects in various regions.

Special Assistant on Political Affairs Malik Muhammad Dogar also attended the meeting. During the meeting, Fateha was offered for the late mother of MNA Tahir Iqbal. They discussed the ongoing development projects in Vehari and Battagram, infrastructure package of Rahim Yar Khan and improvement of the irrigation system.

The prime minister also held meetings with female members of National Assembly: Kanwal Shauzab, Tashfeen Safdar, Wajih Ikram, Munawara Baloch, Saima Nadeem and Nusrat Wahid.

During the meeting, they discussed the ongoing development projects in constituencies, Balochistan package and upgradation of public transport in Sindh, particularly Karachi, by the federal government.

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry, speaking after a meeting with coalition partners, had said the allied parties expressed confidence in the prime minister's leadership.

The minister said a joint sitting of parliament has been convened for the presentation of the electoral reforms bill. He reminded that electoral reforms and electronic voting machines were not the personal agenda of PTI and Prime Minister Imran Khan, rather it was a national agenda.

He asked the opposition to sit with the treasury benches in tomorrow’s session and consider these amendments with an open heart. The issues on which the opposition wanted amendments could be discussed and a way forward could be found, he remarked.

He said reforms were necessary and tomorrow this bill would be passed as all allies have expressed full confidence in the leadership of the Prime Minister. He said the government was ready to move forward with an open heart.

"We are ready to move forward together on reforms in the electoral system, judiciary, media and political system", he said. He said as an individual he respected the Election Commission and all other national institutions, but whatever he said as Minister for Information reflected the policy of the government and the cabinet.

He said he had come to the ECP to explain his position and expressed the hope it would be taken it in a positive way. In response, the joint opposition is determined to resist the government in Wednesday's sitting and stop it from legislating on "black laws".

The resolve was expressed during a meeting of the joint opposition, with the opposition leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif in the chair. The meeting took place at the Parliament House. In the meeting, it was decided that all party heads would ensure their lawmakers’ attendance during the Wednesday’s session, as the numbers to block the legislation would matter.

Shehbaz, sharing his thoughts during the meeting, said: "The government has pushed the country towards an economic decline and the masses are burdened with inflation." The opposition leader said the government could not save itself through its "black laws" as it is "no better than a crumbling wall".

He expressed his appreciation over the united efforts of the opposition in Parliament and thanked them for their cooperation. Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, in a press conference earlier in the day, said the PTI-led government was pressurising parties with smaller representation to participate in the joint session.

"The incompetent rulers are gearing up to extend their reign [by getting the bills passed in the Parliament]. The incumbent government is ruling on a 'fake' majority," he said. Parliamentary leader of the Pakistan People’s Party in the Senate Senator Sherry Rehman said this joint session will go down in history as the one that tore the parliament apart.

“Any election built on an edifice of institutionalized cheating will never hold. Nor will the laws they try to bulldoze tomorrow via a manufactured majority that will fall like a house of cards,” she said on the government move on summoning of the joint session of the Parliament.

Senator Sherry Rehman said in direct contradiction to the Speaker’s letter to joint opposition to join a committee, the government did not consult the opposition on the legislation to be tabled at the joint meeting.

She said the mala fides intent in engaging opposition in committee and on other hand calling bulldozer session. The combined opposition in the Parliament has formulated its strategy for a joint sitting of parliament scheduled to be held on Wednesday and vowed to use all its parliamentary strength to block the government's planned legislation on Electoral Reforms, including the legislation on Electronic Voting Machines and other government legislation.

A consultative meeting of the combined opposition leaders was held with the chair of President PML-N and Opposition Shehbaz Sharif at the Parliament House on Tuesday and was attended by Opposition Leader in the Senate Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, Senator Sherry Rehman, Syed Khursheed Shah, Maulana Asad Mehmood, former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbassi, Parliamentary leader of the PMLN in the National Assembly Khwaja Asif, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Rana Sanaullah and other members of the opposition.

Opposition members were directed to ensure attendance in the parliament and it was decided at the meeting that united opposition leaders would ensure attendance of members. It was decided in the meeting that a joint Parliamentary meeting of the combined opposition in the Parliament with the chair of Opposition leader in the National Shehbaz Sharif will be held on Wednesday before the session of the Joint sitting of Parliament.

In the meeting, Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif said that the government could not survive the economic decline and inflation with black laws while the opposition members said that the government was a falling wall and could not save it.

Talking with the media on Tuesday, Opposition Leader in the Senate Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani said the speaker had written to the opposition that they are ready to talk but now all of a sudden, a joint session of the Parliament has been summoned.

The opposition also conveyed their strong reservations to speaker National Assembly on government’s plan of convening of the joint sitting of both the houses of the Parliament.