Taking advantage of opposition’s failure to build on the opportunity provided by the de-notification of Qasim Suri as deputy speaker, the treasury on Wednesday put off the National Assembly session by pointing out quorum.
It was a rare occurrence when one of the government allies – Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M’s) – MNA Shahnaz Baloch pointed to the Panel of Chair Fakhar Imam that the House lacked the required number to run the affairs. Imam, in response, read the presidential order of adjourning the NA session for an indefinite period.
Opposition leaders, including Pakistan People’s Party (PPP’s) Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, on coming to know about the lack of quorum left the House and this paved the way for the government to prorogue the session for an indefinite period.
Parliamentary sources said that it was a pre-planned effort aimed at avoiding the election of deputy speaker because the proceedings, as in the recent past, were neither temporarily suspended nor suspended till the next day, but adjourned through a presidential order, which implied that the speaker’s chamber had already made up its mind to put off the proceedings before time.
According to reports, it was important to inform the House about the de-seating of Qasim Suri by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) because once the deputy speaker is de-seated, its election becomes mandatory.
The opposition was reportedly not in a position to take part in the election of deputy speaker. The government is expecting a stay order from the Supreme Court that would save Suri from being de-seated; otherwise it will have to lobby for the new candidate.
Meanwhile, addressing a news conference along with other opposition leaders outside the Parliament House on Wednesday, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Asif termed the postponement ‘unusual’ and alleged that the government was trying to give a cover to Suri who had been disqualified from his post of NA deputy speaker by the ECP. The former defence minister also slammed the government for running the affairs of parliament in an unconstitutional manner. PPP’s Raja Pervaiz Ashraf maintained that the government was damaging the parliamentary system.