National Assembly: Walkouts by PPP, MQM mar the session

Bill seeking to amend Pakistan Baitul Mal Act 1991 bulldozed through house

ISLAMABAD: Back to back walkouts marred Monday’s session of the National Assembly but a bill was bulldozed through the house before the sitting was adjourned due to lack of quorum.

Lawmakers from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) staged a token walkout to protest against the Sindh government, which they accused of delaying installation of the newly elected local governments in the province, particularly in Hyderabad and Karachi where the MQM had secured a clear majority.

The second walkout was staged by PPP parliamentarians who protested against a graft case filed against their colleague Mir Munawar Talpur by the PML-N government. PPP MNA Nawab Yusuf Talpur took to the floor to accuse the National Accountability Bureau of taking a ‘discriminatory’ decision to initiate investigations against a sitting MNA.

Later, PPP MNA Nauman Islam Sheikh pointed towards the empty treasury benches and how no one from the government had come to convince the opposition to return to the house .

PPP President Asif Zardari had also criticised the PM for registering a case against his brother-in-law. In his statement, Zardari said Premier Nawaz Sharif had failed to learn any lessons from the past. The PPP president had also pointed out how the government registered cases against his confidante Dr Asim Hussain but no evidence was found against him.

Ghulam Sarwar of the PTI accused Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar of sheltering around 100 men wanted for murder in Rawalpindi and presented a list of the people who he claimed were being provided refuge.

While Nisar was not present in the house to respond to the allegations, MNA Malik Abrar defended Nisar and refuted the charges.

Speaking on a motion about President Mamnoon Hussain’s address to parliament, Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazal MNA Alia Kamran criticised the address for not highlighting the weak performance of the government. “My party is also part of the ruling alliance, but government’s performance has been negligible in all sectors.”

PBM amendment bill bulldozed through

Despite the opposition’s concerns, the government bulldozed a bill to amend the Pakistan Baitul Mal Act 1991 to streamline its daily affairs. The bill had been moved by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab. After the amendment, the cabinet secretary, representatives of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and NADRA would be included in the Board of PBM.

Session adjourned

With most of PML-N lawmakers absent from the house on Monday, Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq was forced to adjourn the session once the quorum was pointed out. This is the fourth time in the past eight days that the session had to be adjourned owing to absence of a majority of ruling party lawmakers.

So much so that while the speaker was present in the beginning of the session, he left by its end and the session was adjourned by Deputy Speaker Bashir Ahmed Virk.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2016.