Daily Times

The National Assembly once again could not take up its agenda on Monday and was prorogued sine die due to lack of quorum.

PPP lawmaker Shahida Rehmani pointed out quorum soon after the question hour, following which the chair ordered the count. The attendance of lawmakers was found less than the required strength and the proceedings were suspended. The proceedings resumed after a break but the quorum was still found incomplete, following which the session was prorogued sine die. Seven government bills, two calling attention notices and as many reports of standing committees, a statutory report and a motion of thanks could not be taken due by the Lower House to quorum issue.

Earlier, the proceedings began with a delay of one hour with Speaker Asad Qaiser in the chair. As the speaker gave the floor to MNA Abdul Qadir Patil of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), he termed the answer of his question regarding a complaint of harassment against NAB chairman submitted by Prime Minister’s House ‘dissatisfactory’, saying that its sheer discrimination with the ‘aggrieved woman who is fighting for justice’. “As informed by the Prime Minister’s House that they have nothing to do with the complaint, then let us tell where she should go? From whom should she seek justice?” he questioned.

In response, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan said as per reply received from the Prime Minister’s Office, the NAB is an autonomous institution that can’t be ruled by any other office, even by the PM Office. He said that some complaints were being intentionally misused to pressurize the NAB. He said the opposition wanted that there should be no accountability.

The minister said that a complaint submitted to Pakistan Citizen Portal was examined and found unfit for further processing in the light of user’s guideline manual for complaints and suggestion handling. Hence, it was dropped from the system on July 2, 2019, as it was beyond jurisdiction of the portal. He suggested that anybody having such complaint should approach the federal ombudsman or any court of law.

The opposition benches got perturbed by the statement given by the minister. Syed Naveed Qamar of PPP regretted that the government was disrespecting this august house. “This is the superior legislative forum and the PM’s Office stance is giving the impression that the NAB is above all,” he added.

The female opposition lawmakers said that it’s also tantamount to harming the dignity of all women, and started protesting against the treasury benches. However, the speaker, in the beginning, paid no heed towards the protest and gave go ahead to MNA Syed Abrar Shah for moving his supplementary question.

The female opposition lawmakers left their seats and gathered in front of the speaker’s roaster and chanted slogans. The ruckus finally compelled the speaker to announce a 20-minute break. As soon as the proceedings resumed, Shahida Rehmani pointed to the lack of quorum. On which the speaker again announced a 30-minutes break later and afterward prorogued the session as the quorum was found incomplete.