The 16th National Assembly came into effect on Thursday with the oath-taking of the lawmakers elected on February 8 amid allegations of “rigging” with the highlight being the return of former premier Nawaz Sharif to the Parliament after more than six years.
Outgoing Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf administered the oath to the 302 members present in the House.
PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, ex-president Asif Zardari, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman were among the top politicians who took the oath today amid protests by the members affiliated with Imran Khan’s party.
The session started with a ruckus as soon as the national anthem ended with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed lawmakers, who have joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), surrounding the speaker’s dias.
The party had already announced it would protest in today’s session against the alleged rigging.
It was after an appeal by the speaker that the lawmakers settled down and the oath was taken by all the members.
However, as soon as the oath was administered, the SIC lawmakers asked the speaker that they be allowed to speak on a point of order.
But their request was turned down, as the speaker informed them that they could raise the point of order after they had signed the role of member register.
