ISLAMABAD - The government is planning to summon National Assembly session in the first week of August to preempt Imran Khan’s Azadi March in an effort to divert PTI’s street politics towards parliamentary dialogue.
“It was decided in a high-level meeting that NA session will be summoned soon after Eid-ul-Fitr in order to cool down political temperature rising up for the last few weeks,” sources in NA Secretariat shared with The Nation.
President Mamnoon Hussain, sources said, will move summary to National Assembly (NA) Secretariat to summon over 19 days session to deliberate upon plethora of political matters with special focus on PTI’s Azadi March. Three days break will also be observed during the session starting from 14th August.
The upcoming session, likely to start on August 4 (Monday), may witness stormy proceedings, as opposition parties are set to raise matters regarding miseries of IDPs of North Waziristan, progress of military operation, fast increasing electricity loadshedding in different parts of the country and other matters.
The PML-N government, during the next sitting of the lower house, may also face a tough time from opposition benches over the matter related to delay in appointment of chief election commissioner (CEC) and ongoing privatisation of public sector entities (PSEs). Likewise, MQM is also set to raise concern over Karachi operation after the enforcement of Protection of Pakistan Act, 2014. The MQM has certain objections over the implementation of this act.
The government benches, sources said, is likely to give a detailed briefing on the ongoing military operation Zarb-e-Azab and measures taken by the government for internally displaced persons (IDPs) of North Waziristan.
The session will also decide the fate of the independent MNA Jamshed Dasti as the parliamentary body formed to probe his allegations of immoral activities at the Parliament Lodges has finally rejected his claims. The report of special committee formed to discuss tax evasion of parliamentarian will be presented in the upcoming session, as it would be submitted to the NA Secretariat with dissenting note of PTI MNA Asad Umar.
The parliamentary sources said that in the upcoming session the lower house will dispose of its delayed legislative business and get some pending ordinances approved.