PESHAWAR: Almost five months have passed since Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly’s Deputy Speaker, Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi, resigned from his post. But the provincial assembly is yet to see a new deputy speaker, in what appears to be a mockery of the democratic process.

According to KP Assembly Procedure and Conduct of Business 1988 rule 9 and sub-rule 1, read in conjunction with article 53, clause 3 of the Constitution of Pakistan, a vacated post of deputy speaker or speaker must be filled during the running session or in the following session.

Technically, the KP Assembly has been in session for almost five months now, extending the same session with several temporary adjournments having taken place since October last year. This means that the above mentioned rules and regulations have not been violated per say.

Observers have claimed that since October, several assembly sessions have been prorogued by the speaker, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Asad Qaiser, after only twenty or thirty minutes of proceedings.

Criticising the Assembly’s Speaker, Awami National Party’s (ANP) leader Sardar Hussain Babak, while talking to Dawn.com, said Asad Qaiser was more involved in his party’s political affairs, which he said was a violation of the legislature’s rules and regulations. “A speaker must be impartial; he should be the custodian of the house,” said the ANP leader.

He said the issue has been raised on the Assembly floor but the provincial government has ignored it so far. “The opposition will proceed to the court ultimately,” he said.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) MPA Munawar Khan, in relation to the issue, said the provincial government had no confidence in its own members, which is why it has been using delaying tactics to elect a new deputy speaker.