Daily Times

The Deputy Speaker of Punjab Assembly Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari expressed concern on Tuesday over the absence of provincial ministers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf while also warning them against a ruling if they remained absent from the house. As per the details, the Question-Hour on Tuesday during the ongoing session of the Punjab Assembly could last only for two minutes as both the movers of questions and concerned ministers were not present in the House. There were questions related to the Industries, Environment and Labor departments on the agenda but the House was told that minister for Environment Sabtain Khan couldn’t come today due to the wedding reception of his son. “Millions of rupees from the taxpayers’ money are spent on one day sitting of the Punjab Assembly but the ministers are not taking the business of this House seriously,” said Deputy Speaker Mazari, who was chairing the session on Tuesday. He also warned the ministers to use his special powers if they remained absent from the House. The Deputy Speaker directed all the ministers to come to the House at 11am on Wednesday as the Chair could give a strict ruling in case of non-compliance.

The Chair took adjournment motions related to five departments but their answers were not received in the House due to the absence of concerned minister and therefore law minister had to face the ire of Mazari as well. What message is being sent to the people of Punjab over the continuous absence of the ministers from the august House, asked the Deputy Speaker. It is pertinent to mention here that there were 10 resolutions of Public-Interest on the agenda item but not even a single one could be passed despite the fact that it was Private-Member day on Tuesday.

Speaking on a point of order, PML-N’s Azma Zahid Bokhari said that the Chief Minister was here in the assembly secretariat yesterday but he didn’t bother to come to the House and how can we expect the presence of ministers in the House when CM himself doesn’t attend the proceedings. She demanded from the Chair to impose a ban of three days on ministers who remain absent from the house in order to ensure their presence in the future.

The parliamentary leader of PPP Syed Hassan Murtaza said on a point of order that the provincial minister for mines and minerals Hafiz Ammar Yasir who is from PML-Q-an ally of PTI in the government-has tendered his resignation and there are several rumours circulating social media over the same issue. He demanded from government to clarify the issue of Yasir’s resignation from the cabinet. Responding the PPP’s leader, law minister Raja Basharat said that Ammar Yasir has submitted his resignation to his party’s leadership but the same has not been given to the CM. We’ll give clarification once it is submitted with the CM or cabinet, he added.

The session was later adjourned for Wednesday morning.

Published in Daily Times, January 23^rd 2019.