ISLAMABAD: Opposition benches have expressed anger over the absence of Prime Minister Imran Khan from the joint session of parliament which was summoned by President Dr Arif Alvi.
As PM did not turn up, opposition requested NA speaker to issue production orders for the Premier.
Previously, members of the Parliament were observed in awe on Tuesday’s joint session of parliament after it emerged that government did not put the issue of scrapping of Article 370 in India’s constitution as part of session’s agenda.
Opposition members staged a strong protest over the issue which led to the postponement of the session for 20 minutes.
National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser is chairing a joint session of parliament to review the ongoing scenario in Kashmir post-revocation of the special status of India-held Kashmir.
President Alvi had summoned a joint session of the Parliament on Tuesday (today) following a rushed Indian presidential decree abrogated Article 370 of its Constitution.
As the session commenced, NA speaker welcomed prime minister of Azad Kashmir to the Parliament.
The joint sitting will be deliberate upon the strained situation in the occupied Kashmir and along the Line of Control as at least 10,000 additional Indian troops were lately deployed in the disputed region.
What is Article 370?
Article 370 was the basis of Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to the Indian union at a time when erstwhile princely states had the choice to join either India or Pakistan after their independence from the British rule in 1947.
It allows the Indian-administered region jurisdiction to make its own laws in all matters except finance, defence, foreign affairs and communications.
It established a separate constitution and a separate flag and denied property rights in the region to the outsiders.
That means the residents of the state live under different laws from the rest of the country in matters such as property ownership and citizenship.
