PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani and Leader of the Opposition Akram Khan Durrani held a meeting here on Thursday and agreed to end the deadlock in the house which spanned over two months.

Accompanied by minister for law and parliamentary affairs Sultan Mohammad Khan and finance minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Speaker Ghani visited the residence of the opposition leader at Hayatabad.

Parliamentary leaders of other opposition parties were also present in the meeting.

A statement said that both sides agreed to maintain cordial relations during the house’s proceedings.

Mr Durrani told Speaker Ghani that the opposition had ended its agitation in the assembly and would not disrupt proceedings in the next session.

He, however, said that Chief Minister Mahmood Khan should address grievances of the opposition regarding allocation of funds for development schemes in their constituencies.

The opposition benches had protested in previous session of the assembly against what they called partisan role of the speaker and chief minister for not allocating funds for development schemes in the opposition members’ constituencies.

Mr Ghani told mediapersons that the assembly was operated on traditions in KP instead of following the rules of business. He said that all parties in the house would be taken on board in future and issues would be resolved through mutual consultation. He hoped that the chief minister would address the opposition’s grievances.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2020