Peshawar:
The president of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assembly, Babar Saleem Swati, said that the oath administered by the Governor of KP, Faisal Karim Kundi, to the members of 25 reserved seats was unconstitutional and that the AMP will have to take the oath of new oaths today (August 25).
“A new oath, under the Constitution and the Act, will be taken tomorrow (Monday, August 25) during the assembly session,” said Swati to journalists on Sunday after a recent rainy and flood examination meeting in the provincial capital.
He said that the oath administration to members of the Assembly is the prerogative of the speaker, not that of the governor.
After many teenagers, 25 opposition legislators elected seats reserved for the KP assembly on July 20 took oath – not to the provincial legislature, whose session was postponed earlier during the absence of quorum, but at the Governor’s House on Sunday evening.
These AMPs, including 21 women and 4 minority members, were to take an oath during a meeting session specially requisitioned on July 20. However, just after the start of the session, a member of the ruling party, Shair Ali Afridi, underlined the absence of a quorum.
Only 25 members were present in the Chamber, which prompted him to order bells to probe for two minutes. However, the required number of members has not been respected. Consequently, the speaker postponed the session until July 24, declaring that the oath ceremony would take place during the next session.
Subsequently, the head of the opposition, Dr. Ibadullah Khan, submitted a petition before the High Court of Peshawar (PHC), asking the chief judge to appoint a person appropriate under article 255, paragraph 2, of the Constitution to administer the oath to the newly elected members on reserved seats.
Meanwhile, the ECP also approached the PHC chief judge, asking him to appoint a person to administer the oath to the new MPA. The KP chief judge, Syed Muhammad Attic Shah, later authorized the governor of KP, Faisal Karim Kundi, to take the oath.
Later, Sunday evening, a sworn ceremony took place at the house of the Governor of Peshawar where Governor Kundi was sworn in to the 25 new elected members.
Meanwhile, the Elected AMPs on reserved seats decided not to take over the oath of members of the Assembly today. To this end, the head of the opposition summoned a meeting of the opposition parties to the Assembly at noon.
According to opposition sources, the 25 members had already taken an oath on July 20, there is therefore no reason to repeat it. They said that even if the speaker requires a new oath, no member complies.
