Amid rowdy proceedings: NA elects Ayaz Sadiq, Ghulam Mustafa speaker, deputy speaker

ISLAMABAD: On another day of rowdy proceedings on Friday, the National Assembly elected Pakistan Muslim League (PMLN) leader Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Ghulam Mustafa Shah of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively.

Ayaz Sadiq, who was a joint candidate of the parties’ alliance, secured 199 out of 291 polled votes for his election as Speaker for the third time while his opposite candidate Malik Amir Dogar of Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) got 91 votes. For the election of Deputy Speaker, a total of 290 votes were polled. Syed Mustafa Shah secured 197 votes against Junaid Akbar’s 92 votes. Following an agreement reached with the PMLN, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQMP) legislators also voted for the PMLN and PPP candidates.

The NA proceedings also witnessed a normally cool senior PMLN parliamentarian Rana Tanveer Hussain losing his temper, piqued by the continuous sloganeering of the protesting SIC members. He dashed towards SIC’s Nisar Jutt, who was busy raising slogans against PMLN parliamentarians, but PMLN’s Attaullah Tarar intervened and averted a scuffle between the two members and prompted his senior colleague back to his seat. However, irritated by the continuous uproar and sloganeering, Rana Tanveer once again attempted to grab Nisar Jutt but once again Tarar’s timely action prevented any unsavoury mishap.

Before the start of the voting process, PTI leaders Gohar Ayub and Barrister Gohar Ali Khan reiterated that it was not appropriate to hold elections for the speaker and deputy speaker till 20 reserved seats of women and three minority seats were not allocated to the SIC. However, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, who was chairing the proceedings, said it was the SIC leadership who moved the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to get the reserved seats in the House. He said that the ECP was the right forum to raise the issue of reserved seats.

Following the election, the speaker went up to thank PPPP Chairman Asif Zardari and PMLN Supreme Leader Nawaz Sharif and thanked them for their support. Ayaz Sadiq also went up to SIC’s Malik Amir Dogar and hugged and shook hands with him. He also met SIC’s Barrister Gohar, Hamid Raza and Omar Ayub. PPP’s Yusuf Raza Gilani also warmly hugged Sadiq while congratulating him.

After assuming the seat, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq expressed his gratitude to the leaders and members of PMLN, PPP, MQMP, PMLQ, Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) and Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) for reposing confidence in him. He assured them that he would take forward the proceedings of the House under the rules and regulations. Sadiq said the members would be given full opportunity to express their opinions on the floor of the House, adding that the doors of his office would always remain open to all the members.

He said difference of opinion and criticism was the essence of democracy, stressing, however, that it should be directed towards reforms and betterment of the country. The speaker said that the current political tension was not in the interest of the country, emphasising the need for building a national consensus and a joint strategy to address the problems faced by the country. He said both the treasury and opposition members were part of the House and he would try to take them along.

Newly-elected Deputy Speaker Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, after taking oath, thanked the lawmakers who supported him in the election. He also appreciated SIC candidate Junaid Akbar for participating in the democratic process. He also thanked the coalition parties’ leadership for supporting him.

Following the elections of speaker and deputy speaker, PMLN and PTI-backed members of SIC traded barbs on the floor of the National Assembly. Taking the floor soon after Ayaz Sadiq took oath as Speaker, SIC leader Amir Dogar congratulated the newly-elected speaker and said that they contested the elections of the speaker and deputy speaker under protest because they wanted to play their role in parliament. Dogar conditioned the opposition’s cooperation in the smooth functioning of the lower house of parliament with the return of stolen mandate of the PTI and allocation of reserved seats from women and minorities quota. “We want to cooperate for supremacy of the House but our cooperation is conditioned with the return of stolen mandate and allocation of reserved seats,” he said.

Dogar said that as per Form 45, his party should have been represented in the House by 225 members -- 180 on direct seats and 45 on reserved seats. He said that it was not an election but rather an auction as various seats of the National Assembly were offered for sale for millions of rupees. He said that on February 8, the people of Pakistan showed confidence in the PTI leadership although independent candidates were allotted different symbols. But another election was held on February 09 and the winning candidates were defeated based on engineered results as showed on Form 47. “Somebody has rightly stated that voters do not matter rather those who count votes matter,” he said. Amir Dogar pointed out that all the 91 SIC members voted in his favour for the speaker’s election. “Our PTI backed 94 independent candidates won elections, 91 are attending session today, the result of two members is awaited, while one winning candidate became a turncoat,” he said.

The already tense situation was compounded when Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Chairman Mahmood Khan Achakzai, speaking on a point of order following the election of the speaker, alleged that the victory of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was changed into defeat. The House erupted with slogans of “release Imran Khan” when Achakzai suggested that the House should pass a resolution demanding the PTI founder’s release.

Criticising the Establishment’s alleged role in elections, PKMAP chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai asked the House to pass a resolution barring the Establishment’s role in political affairs. “We salute Generals who respect and obey the Constitution and those who breach it are not welcome,” he said. He said that some power wanted to turn this House into a ‘Bakra Mandi’. Amid applause from the opposition members, the PkMAP chief said that changing the mandate of people given to PTI-backed candidates amounts to disloyalty to the country.

Achakzai said he wanted to salute those youths of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh who with their resolve turned their game on them. He said the judges who were removed for not supporting martial laws should be declared national heroes and their families should be given all the perks and privileges which they were deprived of. “Those who supported martial laws should be deprived of their positions,” he added. He felicitated the newly elected Speaker Ayaz Sadiq. He said it was a matter of distinction for Sadiq that he had been elected for the third time.

Rebutting the PKMAP leader, Attaullah Tarar said that what Achakzai talked about state institutions was highly shameful and condemnable. “His party did not get mandate in Balochistan and now he is speaking against the institutions,” he said. He said the PTI founder wrote a letter to the International Monetary Fund to derail democracy and cause damage to the national economy. Tarar also questioned whether the 2018 mandate given to the PTI was not controversial.

SIC parliamentarian Junaid Akbar congratulated his rival candidate Ghulam Mustafa Shah on his election as Deputy Speaker of what he said, ‘occupied National Assembly’. He also alleged that the mandate of PTI-backed candidates was stolen, adding that they would not allow the smooth functioning of the House till their grievances on rigging in elections were addressed.

MQMP parliamentarian Dr Farooq Sattar called for joining hands to take the country forward. Sattar said that MQM signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a constitutional amendment for the establishment of empowered and autonomous local governments as envisioned in its constitutional amendment bill. “We also want to create national consensus for economic and political stability,” he said. He advised members who are protesting against alleged rigging in elections to approach the election tribunal and apex court for redressal of their grievances.

PMLN senior parliamentarian Ahsan Iqbal, while taking the floor, said supremacy of the Constitution and parliament and strengthening of democracy could be ensured only by developing good relationships between parties represented in the House. He further observed that the parliamentarians would not be able to come up to the expectations of the nation if confrontation and polarisation in the House continued. He advised protesting members to come out of the state of election campaign and play their role in the functioning of the House. There was a time when every day there were suicide attacks and up to 18 hours of loadshedding in the country. He also referred to the National Action Plan which resulted in bringing peace to the country, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. “We proved that the nation can even defeat terrorism if there is unity.”

Ahsan Iqbal said no individual, party or institution could single-handedly steer the country out of the present crises. He said the PMLN leaders faced fake cases and injustices but they never attacked state institutions. He said it was a matter of fact three-fourths of Pakistan had rejected the PTI-backed candidates and three out of four federating units had rejected them. “Therefore, I advise to respect the same mandate,” he said, adding that the House was not the property of protesting members. He told the SIC members that it was National Assembly and not Banigala saying that the upcoming government would not bow to pressure tactics. “But we will welcome you if you are ready to play a positive role in the House,” he said, adding that Pakistan’s stock market also welcomed the results of elections showing an improvement by 700 points.

PTI’s Gohar Ayub in response said that most of the PMLN leaders, including Ahsan Iqbal, were beneficiaries of Form 47. He said the PMLN top leaders did not spare pineapples and pamper in Toshakhana and also took a BMW car from there. “Whether it was halal corruption,” he said. He said the PMLN leader was talking about the supremacy of law but it was N-League’s top leader, who in the past while sitting in committee room number two of the Parliament House, used to say that the then chief justice could be handcuffed.

Meanwhile, the PTI spokesperson called the election of the speaker and deputy speaker from the ‘fake incomplete’ National Assembly without the allocation of reserved seats for women and minorities as unconstitutional. He alleged that the speaker and deputy speaker would not have any constitutional status. The spokesperson categorically said that according to Article 51 of the Constitution, the House cannot be completed without allocating reserved seats for women and minorities. He recalled that 23 PTI-backed members were being deprived of their constitutional right of reserved seats under a nefarious scheme.