ISLAMABAD: Raising quest­ions over the impartiality of Nat­io­nal Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, the opposition on Wednes­day hinted at moving a no-trust motion against him.

Talking to reporters after a rowdy joint session of parliament, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif said the option would be discussed at the next meeting of the joint opposition.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl leader Asad Mehmood were also present on the occasion.

Shehbaz Sharif, who is also president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), said the government had failed to come up with 222 members required to pass the bills in parliament. The opposition’s votes counted were far fewer than their actual numbers, he stressed. The opposition had more than 200 members present in the joint session, he said, alleging that three or four additional votes were counted in favour of the government.

Shehbaz, Bilawal slam government for violating rules of business of parliament

However, he added, the speaker violated the rules of parliamentary procedure and helped the government bulldoze these bills. He said these bills hold no legal value as they were not passed in accordance with the law because the government fell short of the required numbers.

Shehbaz Sharif said he repeatedly told Speaker Asad Qaiser that the legal process was not being followed and that the bills could not be passed by trampling over the rules of business of parliament. However, he added, the speaker completely ignored all rules and the complaints of the opposition.

The PML-N president alleged the speaker not only became an instrument of the treasury benches in bulldozing the bills but also denied the leader of the opposition the right to comment on and discuss the legislation. He said the Election Commission had already rejected electronic voting machines (EVMs).

“The rigged government was imposed and now they are imposing EVMs on the nation which would not be allowed whatsoever,” he said, adding that the joint opposition would move the court against this undemocratic bulldozing and violation of parliamentary rules and traditions.

Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari blasted the government for bulldozing the amendments and said the opposition would raise voice against the move at all relevant forums. “The entire nation must be informed that the government did not win but lost during the joint session today,” he said.

The PPP chairman pointed out there were separate rules for a joint session of parliament and for a normal session and said more than half of the combined strength of the two houses was required to get a bill passed from the joint session of parliament. This, he said, meant that if there were 342 members in the National Assembly and 100 in the Senate, the government needed at least 222 votes to get a bill passed in a joint session.

“If the treasury benches are unable to cross this number, no law is passed,” he said, adding that the opposition’s stance was that no laws were passed today (Wednesday) — be it a law for use of EVMs or “giving an NRO to Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian spy.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari said if the government insisted that the new legislations were according to the law, “we will challenge them in the Supreme Court” and contest them at every forum. “Today, no law was passed for EVMs and no NRO was given to Kulbhushan Jadhav because the government did not have the [required] numbers.”

The government, he said, had set aside all parliamentary procedures and norms to show that they had succeeded. “But it is my appeal to the media, and it is its responsibility [as well], to make the people understand that the government has not been successful.”

Speaking about the ruckus witnessed during the joint session, the PPP chairman said the country was passing through a difficult time and the nation was looking towards parliament to address and solve their problems.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2021