Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly resumed its session at the Parliament House in Islamabad on Tuesday.

The session was chaired by Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in the chair. The house briefly suspended the proceedings due to the lack of quorum pointed out by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf member Arif Alvi.

Rising on a point of order, Shehryar Afridi of the PTI presented his point of view on the remarks made by the PTI Chairman Imran Khan against the parliament.

Responding to him, the chair said the parliament was meant to serve the masses. “However, the parliament cannot deliver unless its members respect the house.

“The parliament is the supreme institution and nobody can be allowed to disgrace the house. The lawmakers should pass a legislation to bring to task those who curse the parliament,” he said. Despite repeated directions by the chair for maintaining decorum, the PTI members resorted to slogans in front of the chair. Members belonging to PPP and the PML-N criticised the language used by the PTI chairman against the parliament. They said that the PTI chairman should take back his words.

The National Database and Registration Authority (Amendment) Bill 2018 was laid before the house today. It was moved by Saman Sultana Jafri. The House will now meet tomorrow at 10.30 AM.

National Assembly’s Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi on Tuesday asked fellow parliamentarians to enact strict laws for punishing violators of the sanctity of the Parliament.

He urged Parliamentarians to punish such immature politicians. “They often curse Parliament and use derogatory language against the Parliament so no one could dare violate its sanctity,” he said.

He said Parliament was being cursed by some immature politicians without any cogent reason. “It is the duty of each Parliamentarian to ensure its sanctity. Persons involved in defaming Parliament would be ousted from politics after being declared cursed. Parties involved in defaming Parliament should be barred from participating in politics,” he said.

Published in Daily Times, January 24^th 2018.