Joint Session of Parliament Approves Governor’s Rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Emergency Resolution Passes by 240 Votes to 46

A joint sitting of Parliament in Islamabad on Thursday approved the imposition of governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. President Asif Ali Zardari had summoned the sitting, which Speaker Ayaz Sadiq chaired. It came a day after the National Assembly and the Senate, meeting separately, had each endorsed the emergency in the province, so Thursday’s vote was the last big step in the constitutional process.

The emergency resolution was adopted by 240 votes to 46. Early in the proceedings, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry moved to suspend certain sub-rules, and that motion carried by 214 votes to 56. He then placed two resolutions before the house — one on the emergency proclamation under Article 232, and a second on governor’s rule under Article 234.

Opposition members arrived carrying placards and kept up their slogans throughout. Their banners rejected the emergency outright. The noise did not stop the business, though; the speaker put the questions to a counted vote and the government numbers held comfortably.

What happens next?

A governor’s rule proclamation lapses after two months unless a joint sitting approves it, and even then it cannot run beyond six months in total. When the centre acted on October 11, it said the provincial government had disengaged from the fight against militancy and left it no real choice. The opposition does not accept that account, and calls the move an assault on provincial autonomy. That argument is now likely to move from the house to the courts.