PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Tuesday demanded of the federal government to implement its earlier resolution, which had called for the creation of four provinces in the country, especially Hazara province.

MPA of the opposition Awami National Party from Swat district Waqar Khan was the only member in the house, who opposed the resolution by voice vote.

Significantly, the resolution carried the signature of ANP lawmaker Laiq Khan, who belongs to Torghar district.

Members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz from Hazara division moved the resolution, which the house passed by a majority vote.

Sardar Mohammad Yusuf of the PML-N, who read out the resolution, said the KP Assembly had passed Resolution 468 on March 2014, which said the Constitution did not prohibit the creation of more federating units in the country.

The resolution recommended that the federal government table a constitutional amendment bill in parliament for the creation of the new federating units, including Hazara province.

Speaker adjourns sitting over lack of quorum

“The federal government should constitute a joint commission for this purpose and implement earlier resolution of this assembly as soon as possible,” he said.

Mr Yusuf said divisions, districts and tehsils were being created in the province.

He said the population had increased manifolds and therefore, the creation of new federating units was inevitable.

The lawmaker said a bill for the creation of new provinces was also tabled in the National Assembly.

The ‘quorum syndrome’ disrupted proceedings on three occasions. The house was almost empty and less than 15 members were present in the 145-strong house when the session formally began its proceedings.

The agenda for the day wasn’t implemented completely as Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani adjourned the sitting until Friday due to a lack of quorum.

PPP member Nighat Yasmin Orakzai pointed out a lack of quorum soon after the recitation from the Holy Quran.

She said both treasury and opposition members didn’t show interest in the business, so it would be better to adjourn the sitting.

Khushdil Khan of the ANP endorsed the point of the opposition member and said the assembly had been in session for the last four months, so the members had lost interest in its business.

He asked Speaker Mushtaq Ghani to request the governor to prorogue the session.

Housing minister Amjad Khan requested the chair to prorogue the sitting.

He said the matter would be brought to the notice of Chief Minister Mahmood Khan.

“Minister Sahib, you (the government) have convened the session and not me, and I can’t prorogue it,” replied Speaker Mushtaq Ghani furiously.

“I am fed up with this situation,” he said, adding that he had told the law minister time and again to prorogue the session.

The speaker said he would continue the session until the governor issued prorogation orders for it.

He said only two ministers were present in the house showing the interest of members in the proceedings.

Mr Ghani asked staff members to ring the bells for two minutes to ensure that the quorum is there.

After headcount, he again asked the staff to ring the bells for 10 minutes though the required numbers for continuing the proceedings were not present. The chair had to postpone the sitting for 10 minutes.

Speaker Mushtaq Ghani also deferred the passage of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2021, at the government’s request after the opposition member objected to the amendment to Section 10B of the bill.

Khushdil Khan advocate insisted that the commission’s members wanted to validate their wrongdoings and corrupt practices through the assembly by proposing amendment to the section.

He pointed out that a committee of the assembly, in its report, had declared screening test for the recruitment of PMS officers invalid as the test was unlawful.

The lawmaker said the committee had also recommended legal action against the commission members, who had conducted the test and thus, depriving thousands of candidates the opportunity to appear in the test and interview.

The proposed Section 10B says that notwithstanding anything contained in any law, rules and regulations for the time being in force, all the screening tests, conducted by the Public Service Commission, in syllabus based examinations, before the commencement of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Service Commission (Amendment) Act, 2021, under its regulations, in pursuance of which candidates have been selected and appointed as civil servants, shall deem to have been validly conducted for all intents and purposes under this Ordinance and rules made there under, and shall not be called in question in any court of law.”

The government introduced the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Science, Technology and Innovation Endowment Fund Bill, 2021, while discussion on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Deserving Artists Welfare Endowment Fund Bill, 2021, was incomplete due to a lack of quorum.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2022