Speaker’s letter to CEC a milestone in parliamentary history: Atta Tarar

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar on Thursday said that National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq had eventually upheld the supremacy of the Parliament by writing a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) on the issue of reserved seats.

He paid tributes to the Speaker on the initiative and said that it must not be misconstrued. “There are specific questions over the Supreme Court’s verdict about the reserved seats, which need to be duly considered and redressed,” the minister said while talking to the media. Terming the Speaker’s letter a ‘milestone in the parliamentary history’, he said it was articulated unequivocally in the Constitution that “the Parliament is supreme and has the sole jurisdiction to enact and amend laws”.

It were the people who elected their representatives to the Parliament with an exclusive right to legislate or amend the Constitution, he added. The minister said there should not be a trespass in terms of institutional domains in order to invigorate the parliamentary system in the country. He reiterated that the Parliament had the exclusive mandate to carry out the legislative business, by amending or rewriting the Constitution. The minister endorsed the Speaker’s stance that there was already a law in the amended Election Act 2017 that clearly indicated that independent candidates would have to join a political party within 48 hours of the election. How the clock could be turned back allowing those independent Members of the National Assembly who had already joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), to join another political party, he questioned. Tarar highlighted the flaw in the verdict that the independent members had joined a political party (PTI)which did not any presence in the House.

Questioning the interpretation of Article 63-A in current ruling, he recalled that the previous interpretation had led to the removal of Hamza Shehbaz led government in Punjab. He said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz would continue to play its role for the Parliament’s sovereignty. “Speaker Ayaz Sadiq has a remarkable step. He has always upheld his integrity by treating all parties in the Assembly with fairness and respect. He always ensures that no member faces injustice,” the minister said.