ISLAMABAD: The Opposition leaders are terming the government’s decision of postponing the joint Parliament session as their victory.
A day earlier, President Arif Alvi had withdrew the order for a joint session of the parliament, scheduled for 11 am today (Thursday).
Speaking at the Parliament House, PML-N President and Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has said that the adjournment of the joint session of the Parliament means that the government has been badly beaten on its ‘black laws’ it sought to bully through the Parliament.
“Imran Niazi should resign after it was clearly exposed that he had lost the trust of his members and allies,” he added.
Shehbaz Sharif said by postponing the joint meeting, Imran Khan had once again upheld his long tradition of taking U-turns.
“The hasty convening of the joint meeting and then the hasty adjournment shows the seriousness of the government that had made sensitive and serious issues like legislation a child’s play, he said.
Earlier, talking to media at the Parliament House, Shehbaz Sharif said that the government lost twice in the Parliament and the joint opposition had more votes than the government. “The nation had united against these black laws that were malicious,” he said.
He said, PTI wanted to repeat what they did in 2018 through RTS by bringing a bill with electronic voting machine. “The united opposition was constantly saying that these black laws will not be passed and the government’s own allies were not with them on this issue, and were distancing themselves from PTI completely, he added
Shehbaz Sharif said it seemed that the defeat of the previous day has forced the government to postpone the meeting. “Those claiming to compete on the field have fled the field, he said. Shehbaz Sharif said that the postponement of the joint session of the Parliament proves that the government has confirmed its defeat on legislation of black laws.
‘Kaptaan bhag gaya’
Commenting on the development, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that the government opted out of the Parliament’s joint session as it had “foreseen its defeat”.
Taking to Twitter, Bilawal said “Kaptaan bhag gaya” (the captain ran away), as he shared President Arif Alvi’s notification for the postponement of the session.
“Yet another victory for the United opposition in the Parliament today. Government ran away from joint sessions when they saw they would be defeated yet again. Kaptaan Bagh[sic] gaya.”
“Due to the opposition’s contacts with the government’s allies, the government had to retreat and cancel the joint session. Thanks to [leader of the Opposition] Shahbaz Sharif who gathered the Opposition parties,” Bilawal had said.
He had said that the president of Pakistan had issued a notification for the joint session of the Parliament but the government revoked the notification by announcing to postpone the session.
“Postponing the session is also a disgrace to the president”, he had said.
NA Speaker to hold talks with opposition: Fawad Chaudhry
Taking to Twitter, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said that National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser would hold talks with the Opposition over electoral reforms.
“Electoral reforms are the country’s future and we, with the best of intentions, are trying to develop a consensus on this. In this regard, [the speaker] has been tasked to hold talks with the Opposition so that a unanimously agreed upon electoral reform bill can be presented,” he had said.
The information minister said the session has been postponed in the hope that the Opposition would consider the government’s proposal seriously and work towards making a unanimously agreed-upon plan of action.
“In case this does not happen, we will still not step back from electoral reforms,” he added.
The information minister, however, made no mention of when the parliamentary session would instead be called.
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