Where art thou? PA session adjourned due to lack of quorum

Law minister says security situation is satisfactory

LAHORE: The absence of parliamentarians at the Punjab Assembly showed the lack of seriousness among MPAs to debate the law and order situation in the province. For yet another occasion, the house failed to draw the required quorum to hold the session.

On Friday, members of the treasury benches seemed reluctant to debate over an important part of the agenda.

They raised objections before the deputy speaker as the session started, claiming their questions were not being included in proceedings.

Lawmaker Ahsan Riaz Fityana raised an objection over the lack of quorum. As a result, the assembly bells were rung for five minutes. Later, proceedings were adjourned for another 15 minutes, but the required number of MPAs had still not turned up. The deputy speaker finally adjourned the session till 2pm on Monday.

Earlier, talking to the media outside the assembly chambers, Punjab Law Minster Rana Sanaullah said the overall security situation across Punjab, including Lahore, was satisfactory. Turning his attention to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto, he said the leader should focus his attention of mature and sincere politics.

After the session was adjourned, provincial minister Khwaja Imran Nazir said it was regrettable that the session did not have the required quorum.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3^rd, 2016.