Punjab Assembly: Speaker forms committee to end attendance debate

Proceedings again end early due to low attendance.

LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly speaker formed a six-member committee to resolve attendance issues as members again voiced their displeasure at having to mark their attendance in a register kept at the assembly chambers on Friday.

Proceedings got underway with Ali Haider Noor Niazi of the MMA, speaking on a point of order, describing the placing of the register in the assembly as an insult to the members. He said he would not mark his attendance in the register. Several other MPAs also refused to mark their attendance.

Syed Nazim Hussain Shah of the PPP said that government employees of grade 17 and above were not required to mark their attendance, so neither should MPAs, who were higher in rank than grade 22 officers.

Sheikh Allauddin of PML (Like Minded) said the members were being too sensitive and marking attendance would simply make the assembly more transparent. He said that those opposing the move represented an attitude that had been responsible for the destruction of Pakistan.

Sanaullah Mastikhel of the PML-Nawaz interrupted to say that Allahuldin had destroyed the Aashiana Housing Scheme. Allauddin took serious offence at the suggestion of corruption and demanded that the speaker “put a muzzle on” Mastikhel. The PML-N member’s response was to gesture to Allauddin to meet him outside in the lobby to settle the dispute. The speaker noted the gesture and ordered Mastikhel to leave the hall for an hour. Mastikhel refused. Later in the day, when the deputy speaker had taken control of proceedings, Mastikhel rose to say that there wasn’t a man in Pakistan who could put a muzzle on him.

Law Minister Rana Sanaullah criticised the language used by the two members and said such incidents hurt the assembly’s image.

Finance Minister Tanveer Ashraf Kaira urged the speaker to remove the register from the assembly since it was angering so many members. The speaker then formed a six-member committee headed by himself to discuss the issue, and prohibited further debate on the matter in the house till the committee reached a decision.

During question hour, the law minister answered questions about the Prosecution Department while Population Minister Neelam Jabbar replied to questions regarding her department.

Friday’s proceedings were called off prematurely due to a lack of quorum. As the house resumed a debate on prices, opposition members objected that only the parliamentary secretary for food and 10 other treasury members were present in the house. The debate was postponed for the same reason a day earlier.

The deputy speaker said that the minister and parliamentary secretary concerned must be present in the house for debate on an issue, otherwise he would not allow the debate to begin. The proceedings were postponed for Monday at 3pm after the incomplete quorum was pointed out.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th,  2011.