- 326 legislators take oath in country’s 15th NA
- Imran-led PTI poised to form Govt.
- No protest against ‘rigging’ during inaugural session
ISLAMABAD: Setting the stage for a second democratic transition a day before the country’s 71st Independence Day, 326 newly elected members of the 15th National Assembly took the oath amid an unusual calm during its inaugural session on Monday.
The opposition parties, which had earlier announced plans to lodge strong protest inside and outside the parliament against alleged rigging in the 2018 general elections from the platform of the recently-formed alliance Pakistan Free and Fair Elections Network, however, remained peaceful.
The oath-taking ceremony took place in a very cordial atmosphere as several opposition members were seen exchanging pleasantries with the legislators belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), the party poised to form its government.
PTI chairman and prime minister-in-waiting Imran Khan took the lead in maintaining a reconciliatory atmosphere when he shook hands with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president (his arch rival Shahbaz Sharif) and then received Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and former president Asif Ali Zaradri as the father-son duo entered the house amidst desk-thumping by the opposition members. Imran Khan also posed for photos with Mr Bilawal and Mr Zardari before the start of the inaugural session.
Unlike most other members, however, Mr Khan came back to his seat adjacent to the official seat of the prime minister without seeing at any opposition member. The PML-N president met the PPP chairman while going back to his seat after signing the ‘Roll of the Members’, he completely ignored Imran Khan. Mr Zardari had already left the house by then.
The special treatment given to the PPP members by Imran Khan and other PTI members was noticed by most of those watching the proceedings from the galleries, as there was talk about a possible break-up of the grand opposition alliance. “I think soon the PML-N and the MMA will be the only parties on the opposition benches,” said a senior reporter who has been covering politics and parliament for the past two decades.