Tariq Saeed Peshawar
Opposition parties in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly have sought the intervention of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on the issue of oath-taking of members on the reserved seats.
“Failure to administer the oath to members elected on the KP reserved reflects ‘mal-intent’,” Reads a petition, filed by members of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and JamiatUlema-e-Islam (JUI-F) on Monday.
They requested the court to see that the members elected on the reserved seats are sworn in at the earliest so that they can be able to cast their votes in the upcoming Senate elections.
The development comes as the issue of oath-taking of members on the reserved seats is facing uncertainty owing to the deadlock between the KP government and opposition parties, wherein the former has objected to the KP governor’s decision to summon the assembly session upon the opposition’s request.
The KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati’s had refused to follow the governor’s recommendation to summon the legislature’s session and administer the oath to the members elected on seats reserved for women and minorities.
“The Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa haji Ghulam Ali has resorted to an illegal step by writing a letter summoning the assembly session”. Said the KP Food Minister Zahir Shah Toru.
Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Central Information Secretary Faisal KarimKundi had a week ago announced approaching the courts as well as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to convene the provincial assembly session.
