Opposition rejects council of senior MPs

ISLAMABAD: The united opposition in the National Assembly has rejected the council of senior parliamentarians, constituted by the NA speaker, terming it “an act of deception.”

NA Speaker Asad Qaisar formed the council a day earlier with the motive of upholding the ideals of parliamentary democracy. The opposition members are of the view that the NA speaker has established his role in the House throughout the period that he is holding the office as utter partisan and has been acting on the directions of the government.

They have questioned his conduct in the course of proceedings of the House as he had been defying the rules by himself. Sometimes counting made under his auspices turned up to be flawed. He has undermined the esteem of parliament through his actions, they opined. The speaker has to furnish his credentials at the first place to worthy of an arbitrator. According to the National Assembly Secretariat, the speaker has constituted the council “to promote democratic and parliamentary norms across the party divide line."

Former speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has also been designated as a member of the council. He wasn’t consulted before his inclusion in the council. In a chat with The News here on Thursday, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said that the united opposition’s Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) would decide about joining the council or not.

The steering committee of the PDM will discuss the offer made by the speaker, he said. Ayaz Sadiq pointed out that most of the members taken from outside the opposition are not that senior that they could be part of such council if it worked at all.

Equilibrium has also been ignored keeping in view the strength of division in the House. The representation in such a body must be made balanced that has also been ignored. The speaker should have at least consulted the learned members from the opposition before their inclusion in it, he added.