Assembly session begins, new members take oath
ISLAMABAD : A total of 329 new members of Pakistan’s National Assembly, including prime minister-in-waiting Imran Khan, took oath on Monday following their election in the July 25 polls.
The swearing-in of the members of the lower house of Parliament paved the way for the election of the speaker and the deputy speaker.
Outgoing Speaker Ayaz Sadiq administered the oath to the MPs in what was only the second democratic transition in Pakistan’s history. The elections, however, were marred by opposition allegations of meddling by the powerful military to given an advantage to Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
PTI chairman Imran Khan and other prominent leaders, including PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and former president Asif Ali Zardari, were present in the assembly for oath- taking. Television footage showed Khan shaking hands and posing for a photo with Bilawal, who entered Parliament for his maiden term.
After the swearing-in ceremony, the Speaker prorogued the session until August 15, when the new speaker and deputy speaker will be elected.
Their nomination papers will be submitted on Tuesday. Sessions were also held in the provincial assemblies of Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, where the legislatorselect took oath.
The oath-taking ceremony for Punjab assembly will be held on August 15.