Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The 5th sitting of the 44th session of the National Assembly was adjourned on Wednesday due to lack of quorum.

Only 103 of 342 members were present in the House. Most of the members belonging to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) were absent – only 29 of 188 lawmakers were present in the House.

The PML-N members of the National Assembly who attended the proceedings included Raja Javed Ikhlas (NA-51), Shaikh Aftab Ahmed (NA-57), Abdul Majeed Khan (NA-73), Ghulam Rasool Sahi (NA-75), Mian Muhammad Farooq (NA-80), Saira Afzal Tarar (NA-102), Rana Shamim Ahmed Khan (112), Mian Muhammad Rasheed (NA-115), Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq (NA-122), Waheed Alam Khan (NA-127), Waseem Akhtar Shaikh (NA-138), Rao Muhammad Ajmal Khan (NA-146), Muhammad Moeen Watoo (NA-147), Malik Abdul Ghafar Dogar (NA-148), Muhammad Hhan Daha (157), Chaudhary Muhammad Ashraf (NA-161), Chaudhry Muhammad Munir Azhar (NA-163), Syed Muhammad Athar Hussain Shah Gillani (NA-165), Sajid Mehdi (NA-168), Sardar Amjad Farooq Kosa (NA-171), Jafar Khan Laghari (174), Syed Muhammad Asghar (NA-188), Shaikh Fayaz ud Deen (NA-193), Mian Imtiaz (NA-194), Syed Ayaz Sherazi (238), female members Arifa Khalid Pervez, Dr. Asma Mamdot, Kiran Haider and Dr. Ramesh Kumar Vankwani.

The session began with NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in the chair. However, he adjourned the session when Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) legislator Abdul Sattar Bochani pointed out the quorum with the beginning of the question hour.

The PPP lawmaker, while pointing out the lack of quorum to Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, said, “All the members of treasury have gone to welcome ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif… so how many answers could Aftab Shaikh give by himself?”

“It is better that you also go home,” Bachani said, addressing the speaker.

On this, the speaker adjourned the proceedings until there was required quorum in the House. Adjourning the proceedings, Ayaz Sadiq invited the legislators present to join him for tea because he had to return to the House.

When the quorum still remained short after the recounting, the session of the National Assembly was adjourned until 10:30am on Thursday.

Published in Daily Times, August 10^th 2017.