No quorum: All ruling party MPs absent from assembly

MUZAFFARABAD:

Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly (AJKLA) session had to be adjourned due to lack of quorum after all ruling Pakistan People’s Party parliamentarians failed to attend session.

The session started at 11am but was adjourned after 20 minutes without taking up the agenda.

PML-N’s Opposition Leader Farooq Haider Khan said Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed sat in his chamber along with other MPs from his party but did bother to attend the session.

Khan said it was duty of the ruling party to complete the quorum as the session had been summoned on the government’s requisition.

“We were to present a resolution to condemn rising human rights violations in Indian Kashmir where dozens of youth have been killed by Indian forces during the last couple of weeks,” he said.

The opposition leader also criticised the AJK government for “trying to curtail powers of the chief election commissioner (CEC)”.

Responding to the criticism, political adviser to AJK PM Shaukat Javid said opposition’s criticism was meaningless. He said the session was adjourned as per the rules.

It is the speaker’ prerogative to continue or adjourn a session when there is a quorum issue, he said and added that there was no hidden motive behind adjournment of the session.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2016.