New members take oath in inaugural session of Pakistan's 13th NA
'Pakistan Times' Wire Service

ISLAMABAD: The inaugural oath-taking session of the newly elected National Assembly began here today with the outgoing Speaker, Chaudhry Amir Hussain in the chair, who took oath from 328 newly elected members of the 342-member National Assembly, a national English news daily reports.

Before the oath taking the house observed one-minute silence to pay respects to assassinated former prime minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

Pakistan People’s Party leader Syed Naveed Qamar before oath taking said in the house that the members of PPP and allied parties are taking oath under the un-amended unanimously passed constitution of 1973.

The members of the house took oath after almost one month of the February 18 elections with the new hopes for the future of democracy in the country and the rule of law.

NA 328 elected members attending the inaugural session today comprise of 60 percent new faces, as 192 of them have become the members of assembly for the first time, while 84.6 percent NA members from Balochistan have reached to the House for the first time and 11 out of the 13 elected members are absolutely fresh. Similarly, 19 out of the 32 NA members from NWFP are new faces, while from Punjab 77 NA members, from Sindh 28 NA members and from Fata 7 NA members were elected for the first time. At least 44 women and minority community elected member on the reserved seats have turned out. MQM has also sent mostly new faces to the National Assembly.

In the backdrop of NA inaugural session, security arrangements have been made highly stringent, as no one without special security pass is allowed to move in/out of the sensitive installations and offices adjacent to the Shahrah-e-Dastur and Parliament Building. At east 1100 commandos, policemen and security staff have been posted in the vicinity of the Parliament House.●