ISLAMABAD: The combined opposition on Monday had a little tiff with the treasury benches when the latter presented an ordinance before the house for the extension of the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (amendment) Ordinance 2015.

Quoting Article 89 of the Constitution, Syed Naveed Qamar of the PPP said as the ordinance had expired on February 11, the entire process to elect the mayor and deputy mayors of the city on Monday lacked a legal cover.

In response, environment minister Zahid Hamid contended that the ordinance was very much part of the agenda on February 12 but couldn’t be taken up. He said a few days delay in extending the ordinance through a house resolution was not something new as it had been done in the past too.

In response, leader of the opposition, Syed Khursheed Shah, said if a mistake had been made in the past it shouldn’t be repeated.

Mr Shah even asked the speaker National Assembly not to put the resolution for voting. However, the speaker went with the government side and put the resolution before the house for the extension of the ordinance.

The opposition forcefully opposed the move. Noting empty chairs on the treasury side, the opposition demanded a vote count on the resolution instead of verbal voting. As a result, the speaker had to order the counting of votes.

In the meantime, the government managed to bring its members to the hall and won the resolution with 75 to 69 votes of the opposition.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2016