PESHAWAR: The joint opposition is likely to end its two-month-long boycott of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, which will resume its sitting on Monday.

Sources said that parliamentary leaders of the opposition parties would meet shortly before the sitting to discuss future course of action. They said that opposition parties decided in principle to end the boycott and take part in the session.

The joint opposition comprising JUI-F, PML-N, ANP and PPP had boycotted the session on June 15 to protest the alleged rigging and mismanagement in the local government elections, conducted on May 30.

Qaumi Watan Party, which was part of the combined opposition, did not support the boycott amid reports that the party was rejoining the coalition government.

JUI-F, PML-N, ANP and PPP boycotted the session on June 15 against alleged rigging in LG polls

The boycott of the session facilitated the government to pass annual budget and important bills including amendments in Right to Information Act easily.

The lawmakers of the opposition, when approached, did not comment whether the boycott was ended on the request of the government or on its own.

“No comment,” replied an MPA of the opposition when asked whether the government approached them to end the boycott.

Opposition leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman, who is also parliamentary leader of JUI-F, had announced that they would not come back to the assembly unless the government resigned, dissolved the assembly and held fresh local bodies’ elections under an independent caretaker setup.

It is worth mentioning that the provincial assembly had to meet on July 28, but Speaker Asad Qaisar postponed it because Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan was going abroad.

Under the constitution, speaker of the provincial assembly has to act as acting governor when the governor is out of country and deputy speaker is to preside over the session. Since the office of the deputy speaker has been lying vacant for the last nine months reported owing to differences among the members of the ruing PTI, the speaker postponed the sitting till August 17.

However, Sardar Mahtab did not go abroad due to some unknown reasons and Speaker Asad Qaisar summoned the sitting on August 3.

The government is likely to table The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Whistle Blowers Protection and Vigilance Commission Act, 2015, Board of Investment and Trade Act, Civil Servants (amendment) Act, Journalist Welfare Fund Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Endowment (amendment) Act, 2014, Health Foundation Act, 2014, Ehtesab (amendment) Act, 2014 and Local Government (amendment) Act, 2013.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2015

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