ISLAMABAD: The Pak­istan Peoples Party (PPP) on Thursday exp­ressed resentment over the role of the National Assembly’s speaker during a joint sitting of parliament, saying he showed his bias against the opposition.

In a statement, PPP general secretary Nayyar Hussain Bukhari said that the National Assembly’s speaker played the role of only the custodian of treasury benches, but he forgot that he was the custodian of the lower house comprising both treasury and opposition benches.

He said that the opposition raised the issue of impartiality of the National Assembly’s speaker and now it was considering taking all options available to them and his attitude would be discussed in a multi-party conference.

Mr Bukhari said the PTI government conducted legislation while adopting illegal and unconstitutional means. “The incompetent government is making legislation while bulldozing the Constitution,” he said.

“Violation of rules during legislation in a joint session of parliament is a matter of concern. The rules were not taken into account in the bills passed in the joint sitting and it raised the questions on democratic norms and traditions,” he said.

He said he federal government was running the country through ordinances while making rules and regulations of parliament suspended. “We don’t expect good from the ruling party as the masses have been suffering for last two years,” he said.

Meanwhile, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday paid tribute to services of prominent labour leader Usman Ghani on his death anniversary and said the latter had raised his voice for workers even in the most difficult times.

In a statement, the PPP chairman said that services of the employees of the banking sector were long and along with the struggle of the workers, Usman Ghani was frontline soldier in the fight for democracy.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2020