PESHAWAR - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)'s nominees Asad Qaiser and Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi were elected unopposed speaker and deputy speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Thursday.
Hailing from Swabi, PTI KPK President Asad Qaiser was elected from PK-35 while Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi, who belongs to district Kohat, won PK-39.
The assembly session started with the recitation of the Holy Quran at 10:45 am. Outgoing speaker Kirmatullah Khan adjourned the session for a while and called the meeting of all parliamentary leaders in his chamber for consultation regarding unopposed election of the speaker and deputy speaker.
Treasury and opposition benches after long deliberations agreed to elect PTI nominees for Speaker and Deputy Speaker unopposed. The Jamiat Ulema Islam-F's Munawar Khan Marwat and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) nominee Arbab Akbar Hayat Khan for the speaker and deputy speaker slots respectively withdrew their nomination papers.
Asad Qaiser was elected speaker and sworn in as the 17th speaker of the KPK. Outgoing Speaker Kirmatullah Khan administered oath to him. Later, the newly elected speaker administered oath to Deputy Speaker Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi.
Chief Minister-designate Pervez Khan Khattak highly appreciated the democratic gesture of the opposition for the unopposed election of speaker and deputy speaker.   Speaking on the floor of the house, Pervez Khattak said that the unopposed election reflected the political wisdom of the opposition that revived the rich parliamentary tradition of KPK Assembly. He assured the house that the new speaker and deputy speaker would remain apolitical and will smoothly run the affairs of the assembly. Khattak said the unopposed election was a good omen that would create harmony among government and opposition.
Speaking on a point of order, Munawar Khan of the JUI-F and Akbar Hayat Khan of the PML-N promised full support to the newly elected speaker and deputy speaker. They hoped that the new speaker and deputy speaker would smoothly run the house in a democratic way.
ANP parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak said that the lawmakers could find solution of the issues despite differences. He hoped that the new speaker would play his impartial role and suggested him to quit his party office. His party, he said would cooperate with the government and it would have to take effective steps to curb terrorism, which killed more than 40,000 people, security officials and destroyed more than 3,000 schools. He said they would jointly find out solutions of major challenges.
PPP parliamentary leader Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha said that it was not the job of a single party to overcome the crisis but they would have to take collective decisions to relieve the common man. He said that power loadshedding and corruption were the main challenges.
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) MPA Sirajul Haq said that the coalition would take all the parties on board to continue war against lawlessness, poverty, ignorance, unemployment and corruption as it was not possible for a single party to overcome all these problems. He said ‘jirga used to be formed for the solution of these problems in which national elders were also included.
JUI-F parliamentary leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman said that his party would play the role of effective opposition for the welfare of the people and expect nonpartisanship from the speaker. He said that the opposition would review the policies, which led to terrorism and lawlessness, adding that his party had not accepted PTI's mandate and would oppose its anti-people policies. He said that terrorism could not be abated, if the existing policies were not reviewed.
Qaumi Watan Party's Sikandar Sherpao said ‘people are expecting from them and they would never disappoint them’.
PPP's Nighat Orakzai said that her party would support the government in its anti-terrorism policies, suggesting the members to oppose terrorism for the better future.
PML-N's Sardar Mehtab Ahamd Khan asked the speaker to quit the party office to ensure smooth functioning of the house.  Awami Jamhori Ittehad's Shahram Tarakai underlined the importance of effective legislation and its implementation to solve problems.