Four women on reserved seats sworn in amid opposition protest

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly members on reserved seats were administered oath on Friday amidst strong protest by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-backed Sunni Itehad Council legislators.

Four members elected on the reserved seats took the oath during the National Assembly session chaired by Speaker Ayaz Sadiq.

During the session, the opposition members objected to the oath-taking of female members on reserved seats.

The National Assembly speaker administered the oath to four members from the reserved seats — James Iqbal, Neelum Hayat Malik, Natasha Daultana and Samina Khalid Ghurki.

In is speech, the nominated opposition leader in the National Assembly, Omar Ayub, said that taking the oath from some members of the reserved seats today was contempt of court, as the Peshawar High Court had barred taking the oath from members coming on their quota. He demanded that the oath taken by the members today be declared null and void.

In response, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq ruled that there was no order received from the Peshawar High Court or the Election Commission of Pakistan to stop the oath-taking.

Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan informed the House that none of the members who took the oath today were from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the order of the Peshawar High Court only applies to the eight specific members from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

It should be noted that there will be voting for the presidential election in the Senate, National Assembly, and all four provincial assemblies on Friday with Asif Zardari being the candidate of the government and its allies and Mahmood Khan Achakzai from the opposition.