ISLAMABAD, July 6: The People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) will take part in debate on no-confidence motion against Deputy Speaker Sardar Mohammad Yaqub during the National Assembly session on Monday, sources said.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the party’s parliamentary group in the National Assembly held at the residence of MNA Syed Khurshid Shah at Parliament Lodges here on Sunday. The meeting was called to chalk out strategy for the no- trust move against the deputy speaker.
A senior member of the party told Dawn that the party MNAs had opposed the idea of boycotting debate on the motion like the opposition parties did during the no-trust move against Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain on June 28. On boycott of voting process, he said it depended on the attitude of the government.
He said according to the rules, every mover could get 30 minutes for speech in the House and during the last session, the deputy speaker himself had ruled that all 12 movers would be given time. Therefore, according to rules, all 81 movers of the no-trust against the deputy speaker should be given time, he added.
When asked how would it be possible to hold a session continuously for over 40 hours if all movers were allowed to speak, he said the opposition could consider the option of reducing the number of speakers because of “physical limitations”, but again it depended on the government’s attitude.
However, under the rules, he said, there was no restriction regarding the length of the session. At 12 midnight, the assembly secretariat could issue a new “Order of the Day” and thus proceedings could continue even after 12 midnight and the next day with short intervals.
He said as the motion had not been filed by the PPP alone, therefore, the final decision would be taken at a joint meeting of the combined opposition to be held before the session begins.
The sources said if the government again restrained its members from casting votes, then the opposition would boycott the voting process, but only after the debate.
