1.
GV EXT. Punjab Legislative Assembly Building
0.05

2.
SV Delegates arrive
0.15

3.
GV INT. Conference with delegates seated
0.19

4.
SV National Assembly Speaker Sahibzada Farooq Ali (centre) seated
0.24

5.
CU Speaker of Punjab Assembly Sheikh Rafiq Ahmed with Deputy Speaker Mrs. Abbasi
0.30

6.
SV Members seated
0.37

7.
LV Sheikh Rafiq Ahmed welcomes delegates
0.43

8.
SV Delegates listen
0.50

9.
CU Speaker Farooq Ali addresses delegates
0.56

10.
SV Delegates listen
1.03



Initials AE/16.52 AE/17.08



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Speakers of the Pakistan National Assembly, the Senate and the Provincial Parliaments gathered in Lahore on Thursday (October 18th), for their first meeting since the new Pakistani constitution was ratified in April. The National Assembly Speaker, Sahibzada Farooq Ali, said that it was their duty to ensure that the new Assemblies gained the complete confidence of people.

The speakers met at the Punjab Provincial Assembly Building in Lahore. According to the constitution, they will hold conferences twice a year, visiting each of the four provincial capitals in turn. In his speech, the National Assembly Speaker said that the Speakers were the guardians of the rights of the people's chosen representatives. This, he said, was a particularly important task in a country which had laboured for so long under military rule. He suggested that now that the Assemblies were so well under way they should meet as frequently as possible.

Sahibzada Farooq Ali extended a special welcome to the speakers from the Assemblies in the provinces of North-West Frontier and Baluchistan. In May the Government sent troops to quell disturbances in these provinces, which are the strongholds of the opposition National Awami Party.