PESHAWAR: The provincial government has summoned the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly to meet on Oct 23 after four months amid a no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Pervez Khattak.

A handout issued here on Thursday said that Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan had convened the assembly session on Oct 23 at 3:00pm. Last session of the assembly was called to pass the annual budget.

Official sources said that the no-confidence motion submitted by the opposition parties against the chief minister and prolonged sit-in of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad had caused the delay in convening of the session.

The sit-in is still continuing and the chief minister, his cabinet members and MPAs of PTI had been attending the protest. Officials said that agenda for the upcoming session was heavy and the House would have to dispose of several important bills, resolutions and other items.

No-trust motion against CM crucial item on agenda

However, crucial item on the agenda is no-confidence motion against Mr Khattak. The coalition partners have planned to negotiate with the opposition to withdraw its motion. Speaker Asad Qaisar will meet the opposition leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman and other parliamentary leaders of the opposition parties to convince them on withdrawing the motion.

Last time a no-confidence motion was tabled against Chief Minister Pir Sabir Shah of PML-N in the assembly in 1994, which had resulted in a constitutional deadlock. Mr Shah’s government, backed by Awami National Party, was toppled when the then president Farooq Ahmad Khan Laghari had imposed governor’s rule in the province. The crisis had levelled ground for Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao of Pakistan Peoples Party to become the chief minister.

E-GOVERNANCE: The government has approved a plan to computerise the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly’s Secretariat. Speaker Asad Qaisar, who is also chairman of the finance committee, chaired the meeting. Finance Minister Muzaffar Syed, secretary provincial assembly Amanullah Khan, MPAs and officials concerned attended the meeting.

An official said that the computerisation plan would cost Rs100 million. He said that initially cost of the project was Rs40 million. Later, it decided to computerise the entire system of the assembly and now the estimated cost of the project had reached Rs100 million. A press release issued by the assembly secretariat said that E-Governance would be introduced in the assembly.

It said that the computerisation programme would facilitate lawmakers and staff of the secretariat. Under the plan, record of the secretariat’s filing system, debate, accounting, library, vehicles’ parking, visitors, transport system and staff would be computerised.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2014