Govt convenes NA, Senate sessions amid rising political heat

[Saiyan0321]

Govt convenes NA, Senate sessions amid rising political heat​

ISLAMABAD: Amid rising political temperatures in the country and in an apparent move to nullify the opposition’s act of requisitioning the National Assembly session, the government on Wednesday summoned regular sessions of both houses of parliament on Friday (tomorrow).

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) slammed the government’s decision to summon the sessions on a short notice and on the day when the opposition leaders will be attending their first public meeting from the platform of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) in Gujranwala as part of their anti-government campaign.

“The president of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has summoned the session of the National Assembly on Friday, the 16th October, 2020, at 4.30pm in the Parliament House, Islamabad,” says a notification issued by the National Assembly Secretariat.

The Senate Secretariat also issued a similar notification announcing that the president has summoned the session of the upper house of parliament at 10.30am on Friday. The president has summoned the sessions in exercise of powers conferred by Article 54(1) of the Constitution.

ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER AD

The opposition parties had submitted a requisition notice on Oct 5 to discuss a six-point agenda, including the last month’s arrest of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) president and opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Sittings called on the day of opposition alliance’s first public meeting in Gujranwala

Besides discussing the arrest of Mr Sharif, the opposition also wanted to discuss the issues of “rising inflation in the country, increasing cases of violence against women, including rape, massive increase in prices of life-saving medicines, simultaneous extortionate rise in electricity prices and increase in circular debt beyond Rs2,300 billion and continuing collapse in Pakistan’s foreign relations endangering national security”.

The requisition notice carried signatures of 125 opposition members.

Speaker Asad Qaiser was bound to summon the NA session by Oct 19, as Article 54(3) of the Constitution states: “On a requisition signed by not less than one-fourth of the total membership of the National Assembly, the Speaker shall summon the National Assembly to meet, at such time and place as he thinks fit, within fourteen days of the receipt of the requisition; and when the Speaker has summoned the Assembly only he may prorogue it.”

Since the government has convened its regular session, the requisition notice submitted by the opposition will now technically have no effect. However, sources in the opposition said they would press the government to take up the agenda which they had submitted with their requisition notice.

According to the tentative parliamentary calendar, the regular session of the National Assembly was due to begin on Oct 5 and it was to continue till Oct 16.

PPP leader and former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf at a news conference slammed the government for summoning the parliament sessions on the day when the opposition parties would be holding their first public meeting. “Is parliament run through deceit?” asked Mr Ashraf, who is also vice president of the PDM.

Govt convenes NA, Senate sessions amid rising political heat

Sittings called on the day of opposition alliance’s first public meeting in Gujranwala.

www.dawn.com

 

[Saithan]

I assume it's normal to discuss the arrest and what not, but as long as the NAB follows procedures, protocols, and have a case then isn't this just an attempt to twart the case ?

Like bickering and complaining, but can't really avoid the inevitable ?

 

[Saiyan0321]

I assume it's normal to discuss the arrest and what not, but as long as the NAB follows procedures, protocols, and have a case then isn't this just an attempt to twart the case ?

Like bickering and complaining, but can't really avoid the inevitable ?

Ofcourse the focus will be placed on matters to pressurize the government but to also display that the movement is not just active outside the parliament but also inside it. Here is a thing. The movement has two types of ideas and supporters of those ideas.

One we have those that want mass agitation movement outside the parliament. Alot of supporters of extreme steps like resignation and strong protests and long marches are those that have little to loss and much to gain especially if they get the army to enter into some power sharing deal and you would see these characters from PMLN and the Islamic parties like JUIF and then you have parties that want to create opposition in parliament and have protests but control the language i.e not extremely anti-army and in this camp you have guys like PPP and alot of segments of PMLN and they have much to loss and they fear that in the event of a strong army backlash they may loss all that. They want their cards and they want to be in the power sharing. Now both of these are actually pretty much fighting inside the movement and its not as united as it looks and if one side fails to take the spotlight, chances are that the other side would dominate the movement which would impact the interest of the other like if the opposition in parliament remains strong and in more limelight then the likes of JUIF and the extreme steps group in PMLN which is basically Maryam would slowly get sidelines but on the contrary if the street protests take more notes over the situation than the parliamentary protest then you would see greater pressure for resignations and strong language and more protests which would be detrimental to the interest of PMLN that wants to keep what it has i.e Shahbaz supporters and PPP with its Sindh government.

This is merely an attempt to display the above that there are protests in parliament and they will raise hue and cry no matter what. Its an opposition movement meanwhile the cases will continue and Since NAB is presumption of guilt, in a country where courts are presumption of innocence, expect the prosecution to do half-assed work and be lazy and then get a reversal in appeals.

Frankly the inevitable is a question marks since many of these cases would be frozen if say there comes a power-sharing agreement since this has happened before.

 

[Saithan]

Ofcourse the focus will be placed on matters to pressurize the government but to also display that the movement is not just active outside the parliament but also inside it. Here is a thing. The movement has two types of ideas and supporters of those ideas.

One we have those that want mass agitation movement outside the parliament. Alot of supporters of extreme steps like resignation and strong protests and long marches are those that have little to loss and much to gain especially if they get the army to enter into some power sharing deal and you would see these characters from PMLN and the Islamic parties like JUIF and then you have parties that want to create opposition in parliament and have protests but control the language i.e not extremely anti-army and in this camp you have guys like PPP and alot of segments of PMLN and they have much to loss and they fear that in the event of a strong army backlash they may loss all that. They want their cards and they want to be in the power sharing. Now both of these are actually pretty much fighting inside the movement and its not as united as it looks and if one side fails to take the spotlight, chances are that the other side would dominate the movement which would impact the interest of the other like if the opposition in parliament remains strong and in more limelight then the likes of JUIF and the extreme steps group in PMLN which is basically Maryam would slowly get sidelines but on the contrary if the street protests take more notes over the situation than the parliamentary protest then you would see greater pressure for resignations and strong language and more protests which would be detrimental to the interest of PMLN that wants to keep what it has i.e Shahbaz supporters and PPP with its Sindh government.

This is merely an attempt to display the above that there are protests in parliament and they will raise hue and cry no matter what. Its an opposition movement meanwhile the cases will continue and Since NAB is presumption of guilt, in a country where courts are presumption of innocence, expect the prosecution to do half-assed work and be lazy and then get a reversal in appeals.

Frankly the inevitable is a question marks since many of these cases would be frozen if say there comes a power-sharing agreement since this has happened before.

Wait, doesn't that mean that accountability is thrown out the window ?

Corruption won't be dealt with if such actions continue. I can only see a deep rift widening as time goes by. Different parties will have their "bastion" and pretty much rule it as they will disregarding federal laws.

 

[Saiyan0321]

Wait, doesn't that mean that accountability is thrown out the window ?

Accountability itself of powerful people in a country where nobody likes to hold anybody accountable is in itself a very hard concept and yes accountability and politics have gone hand in hand and the 60s were famous for it as Ayub declared he would hold the corruption of the constituent assembly accountable but needed those very elements to stay in power and corruption very much existed. Bhutto and Zia did the same thing against their respective political opponents and offered amnesty to them or simply froze the cases by not appearing or halting the investigation. The over-burdened courts simply didnt bother. It really really took of in the 90s when PPP and PMLN were fighting and back then the 'Holders of representative office 1977 act' and 'Parliament and provincial assemblies order 1977' were used as a means for accountability and then came the 'Ehtisaab Act 1997' and 'Ehtisab Commission act 1997' and then 'NAB ordinance 2001' and so we have had multiple times new passage of accountability which was used attack political opponents and yes some corrupts were punished but mostly lower tier. Nothing powerful

Corruption won't be dealt with if such actions continue. I can only see a deep rift widening as time goes by. Different parties will have their "bastion" and pretty much rule it as they will disregarding federal laws.

Ofcourse it wont.

Its already there and the nation itself had grown corrupt. Corruption is now considered ok and infact many justify that we do corruption because of poverty and the doctrine of 'You see our 5000 but ignore the 5000000 of the elite'. Hypocritic actions.

NAB also is far more stronger against weaker elements than against stronger ones and mark my words, come any agreement, they will get off. It wont be called NRO but they will get off however if they continue to not get in line, they will be taken down. At some point, NAB becomes political and its not just 'ohh army is behind it' the political party incharge and NAB itself as well since those guys blackmail as well and harass to get favors. There are many factors. Imran has a few skeletons as well and they have been well filed to be brought in front whenever he will be targeted and it will either be the party in opposition or the army itself. These are realities of a third world state. If corruption was so easily rooted our and the power players and kingmakers so easily removed, then it would be easy enough. For example let me give you a highlight of corruption. An MPA wants to build a road near his house. He will be allocated fund of which he will take a cut and then give it to his project manager, who will take a cut and then to the tender release company who will bribe and then take cuts by cutting costs and this is on cash. On paper everything will be perfect. from the cost of cement to the last stone, there will be cut to the foreman himself taking cuts. This is a very crude example and through this method everybody gets a share and the road is an absolute mess since A ranked materials are not used. Even strategic roads like motorway suffer from this as well since FWO is also corrupt. That MPA is integral for all parties so starting a case against him is a big no no since he can jump shift and win the constituency for the party in name. So what to do? Bigwigs make deals and kingmakers cant be targeted. well the weak bureaucrats and officials are those that get convictions and NAB due to presumption of guilt, is highly incompetent and they are only good for scaring and harassment. like literally the joke is that file a case in NAB against your enemy and let them loose the thugs. Doesnt matter if he is innocent or not, they will fleece him and make his life miserable and although he will get off but the revenge is in the harassment.

They wont disregard it, they will either amend it or ignore it.

 

[Saithan]

Accountability itself of powerful people in a country where nobody likes to hold anybody accountable is in itself a very hard concept and yes accountability and politics have gone hand in hand and the 60s were famous for it as Ayub declared he would hold the corruption of the constituent assembly accountable but needed those very elements to stay in power and corruption very much existed. Bhutto and Zia did the same thing against their respective political opponents and offered amnesty to them or simply froze the cases by not appearing or halting the investigation. The over-burdened courts simply didnt bother. It really really took of in the 90s when PPP and PMLN were fighting and back then the 'Holders of representative office 1977 act' and 'Parliament and provincial assemblies order 1977' were used as a means for accountability and then came the 'Ehtisaab Act 1997' and 'Ehtisab Commission act 1997' and then 'NAB ordinance 2001' and so we have had multiple times new passage of accountability which was used attack political opponents and yes some corrupts were punished but mostly lower tier. Nothing powerful


Ofcourse it wont.

Its already there and the nation itself had grown corrupt. Corruption is now considered ok and infact many justify that we do corruption because of poverty and the doctrine of 'You see our 5000 but ignore the 5000000 of the elite'. Hypocritic actions.

NAB also is far more stronger against weaker elements than against stronger ones and mark my words, come any agreement, they will get off. It wont be called NRO but they will get off however if they continue to not get in line, they will be taken down. At some point, NAB becomes political and its not just 'ohh army is behind it' the political party incharge and NAB itself as well since those guys blackmail as well and harass to get favors. There are many factors. Imran has a few skeletons as well and they have been well filed to be brought in front whenever he will be targeted and it will either be the party in opposition or the army itself. These are realities of a third world state. If corruption was so easily rooted our and the power players and kingmakers so easily removed, then it would be easy enough. For example let me give you a highlight of corruption. An MPA wants to build a road near his house. He will be allocated fund of which he will take a cut and then give it to his project manager, who will take a cut and then to the tender release company who will bribe and then take cuts by cutting costs and this is on cash. On paper everything will be perfect. from the cost of cement to the last stone, there will be cut to the foreman himself taking cuts. This is a very crude example and through this method everybody gets a share and the road is an absolute mess since A ranked materials are not used. Even strategic roads like motorway suffer from this as well since FWO is also corrupt. That MPA is integral for all parties so starting a case against him is a big no no since he can jump shift and win the constituency for the party in name. So what to do? Bigwigs make deals and kingmakers cant be targeted. well the weak bureaucrats and officials are those that get convictions and NAB due to presumption of guilt, is highly incompetent and they are only good for scaring and harassment. like literally the joke is that file a case in NAB against your enemy and let them loose the thugs. Doesnt matter if he is innocent or not, they will fleece him and make his life miserable and although he will get off but the revenge is in the harassment.

They wont disregard it, they will either amend it or ignore it.

You need a Duterte....