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       PESHAWAR: Members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly elected on seats reserved for women and non-Muslims on Monday refused to take oath as lawmakers for the second time and walked out of the house.

       Soon after the sitting began, Deputy Speaker Suriya Bibi, who was in the chair, said that before moving towards other agenda items, it was incumbent upon her to place a “constitutional matter of utmost importance on record.”

       She said that the session was summoned under Article 109 of the Constitution.

       Ms Bibi said the first sitting was held on July 20 to administer oath to the new assembly members elected on reserved seats, but a member pointed out a lack of quorum in the house, causing the session’s adjournment.

       Opposition stages walkout; house continues discussion on law and order situation amid calls for joint peace efforts

       “Through the administrative order of the Peshawar High Court, the governor later administered oaths to those members. The matter was challenged by Speaker of the KP Assembly Babar Saleem Swati with the high court. He also approached the Supreme Court,” she said.

       The chair asked those lawmakers to stand in their seats to take oath, but the latter refused to comply.

       “Taking oath is mandatory for strangers but I don’t see any stranger here,” Leader of the Opposition Dr Ibadullah said, adding that the lawmakers elected on reserved seats had taken oath under Article 255 (2) of the Constitution and participated in legislation.

       He said that those MPAs were members of the house.

       Dr Ibadullah said that the Election Commission of Pakistan had reached out to the high court, prompting the nomination of the governor to administer oaths to the newly-elected lawmakers. He later announced a walkout by opposition members from the house along with those MPAs.

       Meanwhile, the house continued to discuss the law and order situation in the province, with members advocating for joint peace efforts. They said peace was imperative for the province’s development.

       MPA Mohammad Usman Khan said the law and order situation in his constituency was so volatile that mortar shells, fired from unidentified locations, targeted children.

       He said joint efforts were required to effectively address the issue, “Law and order can be restored through negotiations with all stakeholders and not through military operations,” he said.

       ANP member Arbab Mohammad Usman called for joint efforts to restore peace in the province.

       He accused the PTI of “showing the military establishment the path to power politics.”

       The lawmaker said that his party was targeted by terrorists but it stood firm against them.

       He alleged that the PTI wanted to strike a deal with militants and paid extortion money to them.

       Higher education minister Mena Khan Afridi said the opposition always criticised the government but never came up with any suggestions for a better law and order situation in the province.

       He said that the house was constantly conveying to the Centre its strong opposition to military operations, insisting such actions will never restore peace, but the opposition never talked about stopping cross-border infiltration.

       During the question hour, member of the opposition PML-N Sobia Shahid said that she was not satisfied with the excise department’s answer to her question about the number of vehicles it possessed.

       She claimed that some excise vehicles were parked at the houses of retired government officials. The lawmaker urged excise minister Khaleequr Rehman to support her call for referring the question to the relevant house committee for deliberation.

       However, the minister insisted that his department had responded to the question in detail. He said if the PML-N MPA wanted more details about the matter, she should submit another question.

       The opposition member responded that if the minister was reluctant to have further discussion on the matter, it meant there was something wrong.

       Treasury MPA Akbar Ayub challenged the PML-N lawmaker to share details of all those vehicles parked unlawfully at the retired officers’ houses.

       Ms Shahid claimed that three vehicles were parked at the former MPA’s house from PK-74, while one was present at the house of former secretary Adeel Shah.

       However, Mr Ayub insisted that lawmaker from PK-74 Arbab Jandad had rented land to the excise department for parking vehicles, while Mr Shah was still in service.

       In a calling attention notice, member of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party Ahmad Karim Kundi said that in the province, aquatic life, including several species of fishes, were endangered due to electrofishing and use of explosives and dangerous chemicals for catching fish.

       Parliamentary secretary Adeel Iqbal said people resorting to such illegal fishing methods were penalised and booked.

       MPA Kundi requested the chair to refer his calling attention notice to the relevant house committee for recommending a strategy to check the illegal practices. The notice was later sent to the relevant house committee.

       The house passed the KP Appointment, Deputation, Posting and Transfer of Teachers, Lecturers, Instructors and Doctors Regulatory (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which was tabled by law minister Aftab Alam Afridi.

       The assembly also passed the KP Road, Transport Workers Amendment Bill, 2025, which was presented by the chief minister’s special assistant on transport and mass transit, Rangez Khan. The chair later adjourned the sitting until 2pm today (Tuesday).

       Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2025