Daily Times

The opposition in Punjab Assembly, led by the PML-N, is satisfied now, as Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has convened the session of the assembly over the requisition submitted by the opposition.

According to the notification issued by the speaker’s office on Saturday, the 21st session of the Punjab Assembly will be held on Friday, May 8, at 2pm.

It is pertinent to mention here that the opposition in the Punjab Assembly had submitted the requisition to call the pre-budget session of the assembly earlier this week on Monday. The requisition was submitted in the secretariat of Punjab Assembly in which the speaker was asked to convene the pre-budget session that was due in March but couldn’t be held due to the COVID-19. The requisition signed by the lawmakers of opposition was submitted by PML-N MPAs Samiullah Khan and Malik Nadeem Kamran.

According to the rules of business of the Punjab Assembly, the speaker is bound to convene the session within fourteen days of the submission of the requisition signed by 1/4th members of the House and PML-N has 166 members in the House of 371, while only 93 MPAs are required to submit the requisition. According to the requisition, the session should be convened to hold the General Discussion for the next budget (2020-21).

“In accordance with the rule number 133-A of the Punjab Assembly, It is mandatory to convene the Pre-Budget session, in which members of the assembly are to propose their suggestions for the budget. Discussion and arguments are to be carried out at least four days prior to the budget session. Amidst the COVID situation this session has not taken place,” said the requisition.

It further added that currently when on one hand the Punjab and federal governments are easing down the lockdown and inclining towards ‘smart lockdown’, on other hands, doctors, nurses, judiciary and all the security forces are playing their role to fight the virus. In this time, it would be the criminal negligence if the democratic institutions do not take up the lead at the frontline. Therefore, it is important that the pre-budget session takes place as soon as possible so the Punjab Assembly can oversee the government measures for managing the current corona situation, said the MPAs of opposition in the requisition submitted earlier this week.

The parliamentary advisory group of PML-N held a meeting on Saturday chaired by former Speaker Rana Iqbal through video link in which the lawmakers said that calling the session was the need of the hour keeping in view the prevailing situation of the province. The parliamentary advisory group is basically a group of senior MPAs of PML-N that crafts the policy of the party in Punjab Assembly. The meeting of parliamentary advisory group was attended by senior lawmakers of PML-N including MPAs Sardar Awais Laghari, Samiullah Khan, Ch Iqbal Gujjar, Malik Nadeem Kamran, Zeeshan Rafique, Khalil Tahir Sandhu, Kh Salman Rafique, Kh Imran Nazir, Mehar Ijaz Ichlana, Ch Shafique, Zakiya Shah Nawaz, Azma Bukhari, Saba Sadiq, Waris Kallu, Mujtaba Shuja ur Rehman, Mansha Ullah Butt and Pir Ashraf Rasool through video link. It was decided in the meeting that all the MPAs of PML-N will follow the SOPs issued by the Speaker including the social distancing during the session.

The speaker had earlier constituted a committee over COVID-19 consisting of parliamentary leaders. Law Minister Raja Basharat, PPP Parliamentary Leader Syed Hassan Murtaza, PML-N MPAs Samiullah Khan, Sardar Awais Laghari, Kh Salman Rafique, PTI MPAs Nazir Chohan, Ameen Zulqarnain, and MPAs Malik Ahmad Ali Aulakh and Maulana Muavia Azam were the members of the committee.

The meeting of parliamentary leaders was held on Friday in which the speaker took them into confidence regarding the session. He told the meeting that the Punjab Assembly session will be held by following the protective measures of the World Health Organization. All parties should implement the SOPs decided in the consultative meeting, the speaker said. The meeting after consultation decided that all parties should get corona test of their members while Punjab Assembly employees will also be tested for coronavirus.