ISLAMABAD
\nPPP senior leader and former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has taken oath as National Assembly speaker after being elected unopposed on Saturday as no other candidate fielded nominations for the post.
\nPervez Ashraf was the only candidate to file the nomination papers for the speakership. His name was proposed by Syed Khursheed Shah and seconded by Syed Naveed Qamar.
\nFollowing his unopposed election, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf took the oath as Speaker of the National Assembly. Presiding officer PML-N\u2019s Sardar Ayaz Sadiq administered the oath to the newly-elected speaker.
\nThe House was also scheduled to take up no-confidence motion against Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri, but it was put off after he tendered his resignation from the post before the start of the assembly session.
\nAfter taking the Speaker\u2019s seat, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf thanked the party leadership for reposing confidence in him and nominating for the speakership. He also thanked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and all allied parties for support in his unopposed election as the 22nd Speaker of the National Assembly.
\nRaja Pervaiz Ashraf, a senior parliamentarian, had previously served as the prime minister for a year after his predecessor Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani of the PPPP was disqualified by the Supreme Court in 2012-13.
\nFormer speaker of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Asad Qaiser, who was facing no-confidence motion, had announced his resignation at the floor of the House on April 9.
\nSpeaking in the National Assembly, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the country had the capacity of 35,000 MW of power generation, but due to the closure of different power-producing plants, run on gas and oil, different parts of the country had been facing loadshedding for the last few days.
\nShehbaz said that about 6,000 MW hydel power could be generated which was linked to the melting of glaciers and the availability of water. But unfortunately, the CPEC coal-based plants and the new LNG plants that could produce about 5,000 MW power, including the one set up during 2019, with a capacity to generate 1250 MW, had been closed for the last four years. It could not produce the power during the previous government, he added.
\nShehbaz maintained the former government did not give priority to such projects due to their incompetency, corruption and mismanagement.
\nThe new plants could not generate power due to the unavailability of gas or expensive oil. The ministries concerned apprised him that they could not finalize the import of LNG as no one in the previous government was ready to supervise such projects.
\nHe said the prices of LNG import had surged manifold and now, it stood around 30-35 dollar 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!
\nThe prime minister also appreciated Amir of Qatar\u2019s personal intervention to provide LNG at discounted price. The prime minister, however, assured that they have been trying to resolve the serious issues on priority basis. He informed that he had held a number of meetings with the ministries concerned.
\nCriticizing his predecessor, the prime minister said the former government was indifferent to the public issues, calling them as \u2018stone-hearted\u2019. The country had the capacity to power production, but the former incompetent government had brought disasters in every sector of life.
\nThe prime minister referred to the slow-paced construction work on Rawal Chowk flyover in Islamabad said that the project despite a clear deadline for its completion within two years, had been stalled, multiplying public and motorists\u2019 woes.
\nThe contract was awarded to a black-listed company by the PTI\u2019s government which had been penalized in the past. He said in Punjab province, they had delivered such like projects within 72 days.
\nHe also condemned an attack on the deputy speaker in Punjab assembly, terming it the provincial government\u2019s fascist act.
\nThe prime minister also congratulated the newly elected Speaker of the National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Asharf and expressed the hope that he would uphold the constitution and sanctity of the house supreme. The National Assembly on Saturday offered \u2018Fateha\u2019 for security personnel who embraced martyrdom near Pak-Afghan border in general area Isham, North Waziristan and passing away of renowned social worker and philanthropist Bilquis Edhi.
\nMNA Maulana Abdul Wasi led Fateha on request of presiding officer Ayaz
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ISLAMABAD PPP senior leader and former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has taken oath as National Assembly speaker after being elected unopposed on Saturday as no other candidate fielded nominations for the post. Pervez Ashraf was the only candidate to file the nomination papers for the speakership. His name was proposed by Syed Khursheed Shah […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[539,5976,2262],"class_list":{"0":"post-255414","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-oath","9":"tag-raja-pervaiz-ashraf","10":"tag-speaker-national-assembly"},"yoast_head":"\n