Govt urged to convene assemblies forthwith: Parliamentary groups’ talks
By Ahmed Hassan
ISLAMABAD Oct 29: Four major parliamentary groups demanded on Tuesday that the government must convene the assemblies sessions without delay and announce the schedule for transfer of power.
The meeting was hosted by Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal president Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani and attended by the delegations of the PML-Q, People’s Party Parliamentarians, and the National Alliance.
PML-Q leaders Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Iftikhar Gilani and Sheikh Rashid Ahmed; PPP leaders Raja Pervez Ashraf and Nayyar Bokhari; National Alliance leaders Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Arbab Ghulam Rahim and Mahmood Hashmi, and MMA leaders Noorani, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Maulana Samiul Haq, Allama Sajid Naqvi, Liaquat Baloch, Pir Ijaz Hashmi and Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri took part in the meeting which lasted two and a half hours.
PPP chief Amin Fahim could not come to the meeting as he was busy attending the ARD meeting which was being held simultaneously at Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan’s residence, participants said.
Briefing newsmen, Maulana Noorani said that the meeting had discussed the issues confronting the newly-elected National Assembly and issued a joint statement. Following is the six-point statement:
1. The sessions of the NA and provincial assemblies should be convened immediately and the government should issue the schedule for transfer of power to the elected representatives.
2. The parties agreed that they would not create any deadlock in parliament which would impede the political process.
3. The representative parties in parliament would settle the issues concerning the formation of the government.
4. The parties unanimously declared that parliament was an independent and sovereign body, and they respected its supremacy. The 1973 Constitution is a unanimous document which should not be made controversial.
5. The parties agreed to continue mutual negotiations on the Legal Framework Order.
6. The parties assigned Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain the task of coordination between the political parties and the government to settle issues relating to the LFO.
In reply to a question, Maulana Noorani said that Nawabzada Nasrullah and the PML-N leaders had also been invited to the meeting but they kept themselves away.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed said that all other parties in the National Assembly, including the PML-N, would be contacted to get their support on the joint statement.
Meanwhile, Nawabzada Nasrullah is scheduled to meet the MMA leaders on Wednesday.
Besides, the MMA has convened a meeting of its members of the National Assembly on Wednesday to take them into confidence on the political dialogue held with other parties, an alliance leader said.
The MMA sources told Dawn on Tuesday that the alliance at its meeting on Monday had decided, in principle, to opt for opposition.
However, they said, the alliance would press ahead with its plan to get the speaker’s slot for which it has already chosen Liaquat Baloch.
ISLAMABAD Oct 29: Four major parliamentary groups demanded on Tuesday that the government must convene the assemblies sessions without delay and announce the schedule for transfer of power.
