Pakistan Peoples Party leader Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Saturday took oath as the 22nd Speaker of the National Assembly in a session of the Lower House of the Parliament.

Ayaz Sadiq, one of the panel of chairs who was chairing the session of the NA, administered the oath to Ashraf.

As the session resumed on Saturday with a delay of nearly an hour, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in his speech slammed the previous government of PTI for the prevailing electricity issues and accused them of not delivering to the public.

It is also expected that a schedule for the election of the National Assembly deputy speaker will also be issued in Saturday's sitting after former deputy speaker Qasim Suri resigned from his post.

Before the session resumed on Saturday, Pakistan People's Party leader Khursheed Shah commented on the resignations of the former-ruling party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, MNAs and said the resignations were typed and not hand-written so they would not be accepted. He also expressed concerns over the MNAs resigning from their post, saying they should remain part of the National Assembly.

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf's inaugural address to the NA

In his inaugural address to the National Assembly, the newly-elected speaker was grateful to God and thankful to his party leadership as well as leaders of the nine parties comprising the government.

"Dear country, I am happy to be elected as the Speaker of Pakistan Diamond Jubilee Year. Increasing the esteem and respect of this esteemed House is my aspiration and first priority, speaker of National Assembly," he said while addressing the House.

Ashraf added that the post of speaker demanded impartiality and tolerance and ensured the protection of members' rights. "For the post for which this esteemed House has elected me unopposed, the first Quaid-e-Azam was elected unopposed as its first head."

While Quaid-e-Azam's address was Pakistan's first official and national constitutional statement, it also affirms the central role of the legislature in the state structure, Ashraf added. "Quaid-e-Azam said, Remember that you are an independent legislature and you have all the powers."

Khwaja Asif's address

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Khawaja Asif in his address condemn the attack on Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mazari, said as a nation we should end tradition of violence and demanded action on the incident.

"Hooliganism should not be allowed and we have to stop it [the incidents of violence] through working on the Constitution," he said, adding it was embarrassing for the nation that the speaker chair has been violated. "We should safeguard the Constitution at all cost."

PM Shehbaz slams PTI

In his speech, Prime Minister Shehbaz said that country had the capacity of 35,000MW of power generation, but due to the closure of different power-producing plants, which run on gas and oil, different parts of the country had been facing load shedding for the last few days.

About 6,000MW hydel power could be generated that was linked to the melting of glaciers and the availability of water, he said, adding: “But unfortunately, the CPEC coal-based plants and the new LNG plants that could produce about 5,000MW power, including the one set up during 2019, with a capacity to generate 1250MW, had been closed for the last four years. It could not produce the power during the previous government.”

The former government did not give priority to such projects due to their incompetency, corruption and mismanagement, he alleged.

The new plants could not generate power due to the unavailability of gas or expensive oil, he said and the ministries concerned have apprised him that they could not finalise the LNG import as “no one in the previous government” was ready to supervise such projects.

He said the prices of LNG import had surged manifold and now, they stood around 30-35 dollars per unit. “During 2015-16, the previous government of PML-N had reached an agreement with Qatar for the import of LNG and if it had not been done, what would have happened now!”

The prime minister also appreciated the amir of Qatar’s personal intervention to provide LNG at a discounted price.

The prime minister, however, assured us that they have been trying to resolve the serious issues on a priority basis. He informed me that he had held a number of meetings with the ministries concerned.

Criticising his predecessor, the prime minister alleged the former government was indifferent to the public issues, calling them as ‘stone-hearted’. “The country had the capacity to power production, but the former incompetent government had brought disasters in every sector of life.”

The prime minister referred to the slow-paced construction work on the Rawal Chowk flyover in Islamabad and said that the project despite a clear deadline for its completion within two years, “had been stalled, multiplying public and motorists’ woes.”

Shehbaz alleged that the contract was awarded to a black-listed company by the PTI’s government which had been penalised in the past.

(WITH INPUT FROM APP)