ISLAMABAD: Two days after a six-hour-long meeting of the heads of the constituent parties of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) — a 13-party government alliance — the joint sitting of parliament will convene today (Wednesday) instead of 10th of next month to take “important decisions” to enforce the state’s authority.
The decision comes in the midst of heightened political acrimony and unrest in the country. Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf while exercising his powers under Joint Sitting Rules 1973, made a change in the schedule of the joint session of the parliament.
Meeting at 4pm at Parliament House
As per the fresh schedule, the joint sitting of the parliament will convene today (Wednesday) instead of 10th of next month to “take important decisions” to enforce the state’s authority. The meeting will be held at 4pm at the Parliament House here.
The office of the speaker national assembly did not give a reason for changing the schedule. However, according to the official sources, the ruling coalition had called for parliament to “take important decisions” to ensure that the writ of the state was enforced.
On Monday, a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif maintained that Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was not a political party but “rather a gang of militants”, and that its “enmity against the state” could not be tolerated.
PTI’s Imran Khan was prime minister of the country from 2018 until 2022 when he was ousted from office in a vote of no-confidence. Since then, he has been demanding snap elections. PTI supporters have clashed with the police several times over recent days as the authorities tried to force him to appear in court in connection with various criminal cases brought against him. PM Shehbaz and other PDM leaders have rejected Khan’s demand for a new election saying it would be held later this year.
Parliament will meet here as Imran Khan’s supporters gather for his ‘massive’ rally in Lahore today. The clashes between PTI supporters and the security forces have brought a new round of political instability in the country, which is in the midst of a crippling economic crisis.
Police have arrested hundreds of Imran Khan’s supporters in raids in recent days after the clashes. Imran Khan appeared on Tuesday before the Lahore High Court to apply for protective bail in two quite fresh cases against him in Islamabad. The former prime minister also appeared before a bench hearing a case he has filed against the police for raiding his Zaman Park home, which he says was in violation of the court orders.
