Joint Session of Parliament Approves Emergency and Governor’s Rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by Majority Vote; Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar Criticizes Past Decisions on Militant Resurgence
ISLAMABAD: In the marathon session of the joint session of the Parliament, which is the first time in the history of the country that the lawmakers have opposed the imposition of emergency and Governor’s Rule in KPK in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the House has formally approved the emergency and Governor’s Rule in KPK.
The resolutions were presented by the Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry under Article 232 (Emergency) and Article 234 (Governor’s Rule) of the Constitution, and were approved by a vote of majesty over more than 5 hours of intense parliamentary debates, presided over by the Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq. All constitutional procedures for the administrative takeover are complete and the Speaker adjourned the joint session at a time when the Nsibidians had given their consent after being granted prior approvals by the National Assembly and the Senate.
The Joint Parliamentary Session and Resolutions were held in the following format and content:
With loud dissent and opposition from the opposition benches, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq called for separate votes of both resolutions, which were passed by a clear majority. The long session included in-depth presentations on the security threat in the province and its administrative paralysis.
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar’s Address: Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, addressing the joint session, refuted constitutional steps that allowed militancy to resurface and launched a scathing attack on past policies that paved the way for the resurgence. He asked who authorized the return of 40,000-45,000 TTP elements to Pakistan, and said that those who made historical mistakes are directly responsible for the resurgence of terrorism in the country.
Evidence and Rejection of Compromise: Dar stated that even the interim Afghan government does not use the word TTP, but there is no need to wait for the Afghan government to present any concrete evidence that has been exchanged with international organizations on the linkages of TTP, BLA and associated groups with cross border terrorism. He said when Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of JUI-F, suggested to give one more chance to dialogue, PM Shehbaz Sharif said that the issue has already been taken up before the federal cabinet and is beyond politics of reconciliation as the state has to struggle against the cancer of terrorism first.