ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Tuesday requisitioned the National Assembly session to discuss the post-budget situation and the recent arrest of the party’s Punjab president and MNA Rana Sanaullah.

The requisition notice carrying signatures of 92 opposition members was submitted to the National Assembly Secretariat by MNA Murtaza Javed Abbasi under Article 54(3) of the Constitution.

The requisition notice says that a session of the National Assembly be convened to discuss “the effects of the budget on the common man and the economy” and “repression of political leaders, including Rana Sanaullah Khan, MNA, to stop them from raising their voice for the people of Pakistan”.

The notice was moved by the PML-N members hours after a district court in Lahore sent Rana Sanaullah to jail on a 14-day judicial remand in a narcotics case involving some proscribed organisations.

Speaker is required to summon the session within 14 days of the receipt of the notice

The former home minister of Punjab had been arrested by Anti-Narcotics Force personnel on the Motorway when he was on his way to Lahore from his hometown Faisalabad.

Under the Constitution, the speaker is bound to summon the NA session within 14 days of the receipt of the requisition notice. Since the requisition has been moved on July 2, Speaker Asad Qaiser will have to summon the session by July 16.

The routine sessions of the National Assembly are summoned by the president, but a requisitioned session can only be summoned by the speaker.

Article 54(3) of the Constitution says: “On a requisition signed by not less than one-fourth of the total membership of the National Assembly, the speaker shall summon the National Assembly to meet, at such time and place as he thinks fit, within fourteen days of the receipt of the requisition; and when the Speaker has summoned the Assembly only he may prorogue it.”

The National Assembly which met for 20 days to discuss and approve the federal budget had been prorogued on June 29 with the speech of Prime Minister Imran Khan in which he had thanked the party legislators and allies for their support in the passage of the budget and had also lashed out at the opposition for calling him ‘selected PM’.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd , 2019