President Dr Arif Alvi has summoned the National Assembly session on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at 4pm today (Monday).
As per the details, the NA session will be held at Parliament House and presided over by Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.
It will be the first session of the House after the ouster of Imran Khan-led government. It is pertinent to mention here that Raja Pervaiz Ashraf will have to face the challenge of keeping parliament functional after the mass resignation of 123 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers.
The speaker is likely to start the process of verification of resignations submitted by the PTI lawmakers by calling them in his chamber individually or in the form of groups during the current session. At least two dozen MNAs belonging to the PTI had already reportedly approached him seeking a meeting to clarify their stance.
According to reports, most of the resignations submitted by the PTI lawmakers were not handwritten and had a similar text printed on the party’s letterhead. Also, some members’ signatures on the resignation letters did not match those on the assembly roll. Moreover, the appointment of an opposition leader in the House will be another challenge before the NA speaker. Since the PTI leadership announced it would not return to the House, the speaker has no choice but to appoint an opposition leader from amongst nearly two dozen defiant lawmakers of the PTI.
