The 16th National Assembly came into effect on Thursday with the oath-taking of the lawmakers elected on February 8 amid allegations of “rigging” with the highlight being the return of former premier Nawaz Sharif to the Parliament after more than six years.
Outgoing Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf administered the oath to the 302 members present in the House
PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, ex-president Asif Zardari, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman were among the top politicians who took the oath today amid protests by the members affiliated with Imran Khan’s party.
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The session started with a ruckus as soon as the national anthem ended with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed lawmakers, who have joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), surrounding the speaker’s dias.
The party had already announced it would protest in today’s session against the alleged rigging.
It was after an appeal by the speaker that the lawmakers settled down and the oath was taken by all the members.
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Amid the signing, the SIC lawmakers started chanting “qaidi number 804” the number given to PTI founder Imran Khan in the Adiala jail where he remains incarcerated since August 2023.
In response, the PML-N lawmakers started shouting “ghari chor” (watch thief) in the House.
After all the 302 members had signed the role of member register, Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf gave the floor to the SIC to express their views.
Speaking on the point of order, PTI’s Barrister Gohar claimed that his party had won 186 NA seats in the February 8 polls.
“Mr speaker [the members] sitting on your left are strangers [and do not belong here],” Gohar said while stressing that no one is allowed in the assembly by any other means other than those who come via the people’s mandate.
“The speaker is elected when the assembly is complete,” he added while referring to the issue of allocation of reserved seats.
After the PTI leader, the floor was then given to PML-N leader Khawaja Asif at which point the SIC members started chanting slogans and recorded their strong protest.
Responding to the PTI’s complaint regarding reserved seats, Asif highlighted that the SIC, which the PTI-backed independent candidates have joined, has not submitted any list regarding the allocation of reserved seats.
However, the PML-N leader wasn’t able to express himself on the floor for long as the speaker adjourned the session till 10am Friday (tomorrow).
