PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Ghulam Ali’s move to call a provincial assembly session tomorrow (Friday) has caused a tiff with the newly-elected government, which called it unconstitutional.

The house will meet here on March 22, according to the orders issued by the governor on Wednesday.

The governor called the sitting for the swearing-in of members who were elected to reserved and minority seats and notified by the Election Commission of Pakistan on March 4, said an official document.

Soon after the session was called by the governor, the provincial government declared the move against the rules as well as the Constitution.

It announced that it was in contact with its legal team about its response to the unconstitutional orders of the governor.

Govt declares move unconstitutional, says in contact with legal team about response

“The governor can request the speaker of the provincial assembly to call a session but cannot call a sitting on his own. It is the discretion of the speaker to call the assembly and prepare its agenda,” said adviser to the chief minister on information and public relations Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif in a statement.

Mr Saif said that the governor was in the habit of “creating political issues.”

He said that the governor should step down from his office after the defeat of his party, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, in the Feb 8 general elections in the province, as the residents rejected it completely.

The spokesman said that the provincial government was consulting its legal team about the future course of action on the matter.

He said that the governor should resign to hand over his office to “someone who knows the law.”

Meanwhile, Speaker of the KP Assembly Babar Saleem Swati said that his office was examining the issue.

“We are assessing the issue of whether the governor can call a session [of the assembly] on his own,” Mr Swati said in a statement.

On March 19, opposition members in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly said if the oath was not administered to women lawmakers elected to reserved seats, they would move the court of law and the Election Commission of Pakistan for relief.

They urged Speaker of the assembly Babar Saleem Swati to call a session for the swearing-in of those women, saying the house was incomplete without them for the Senate elections to be held on April 2.

“Oaths are not being administered to women MPAs elected to reserved seats. If the KP Assembly session is not called, we [the opposition] will approach the court of law and the ECP,” Opposition Leader in the KP Assembly Dr Ibadullah Khan told a presser here.

Dr Khan, a PML-N member, was joined by Ahmad Kundi of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Arbab Usman of the Awami National Party and Malik Taiq Awan and Sobia Shahid of the PML-N. Khan also alleged that Speaker of the assembly Babar Saleem Swati was acting like a worker for his party.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2024