Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Sticking to its position, the joint opposition staged walkout from the National Assembly for the second consecutive day on Tuesday,besides announcing a daily boycott of the parliamentary sitting until Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif comes to parliament to explain his position on involvement of his children in the offshore business.

“We are striving to strengthen the democracy in the country,”Khursheed Shah said before the walkout.He said the opposition wanted to maintain the respect and decorum of the House and does not want to vitiate the atmosphere.

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, while assuring the opposition, said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would attend the session. “Right now,he is holding a crucial meeting with security officials and then he has to leave for Dushanbe, Tajikistan on Wednesday,” he said, and explained that the prime minister could not come to parliament due to official engagements.

To this, Khursheed Shah said the opposition would attend the session on Friday when PM Nawaz will come in parliament and announced walkout from the House.

The information minister recalled that the prime minister had already written to the chief justice of Pakistan to set up a commission to probe the Panama Leaks. He said the government had also prepared terms of reference (TORs) of the commission.

The opposition boycott seemed to have yielded results as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif decided to attend proceedings of the National Assembly and take the opposition on board regarding his family’s offshore business.

MNA Lal Chand pointed out quorum during the session. Following which, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq suspended the session till the House gets in order. The proceeding later resumed.

Separately, Syed Khursheed Shah presided over a session of the opposition parties, attended by Aitzaz Ahsan, Shireen Mazari, Jahangir Tareen, Sheikh Rasheed and Tariq Bashir Cheema.

Talking to media after the meeting, Khursheed Shah said that the opposition will wait for the prime minister to come to parliament. He said that there were allegations on the prime minister and his family which he himself should explain in the House.

The House could not take up 60 percent of the private members agenda due to absence of opposition lawmakers. Moved by a JUI-F lawmaker, the House referred an amendment to Rule 122 of the rules of procedure and conduct of business to the relevant standing committee.

The House passed two resolutions urging the government to ensure observance of appointment quota for Balochistan in federal government departments and to ensure usage of quality paper in printing of Holy Quran.