Assembly proceedings: Opposition boycotts NA for fifth straight day

Lower house passes the Explosive Substances Amendment Bill, 2016.

ISLAMABAD: As Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s address to parliament was rescheduled for Monday, the joint opposition in the two houses of parliament also did not end its boycott of parliamentary proceedings on Friday and continued its walkout on the fifth consecutive day.

The opposition has been demanding that the prime minister answer lawmakers’ queries regarding his family’s offshore holdings as revealed last month by the Panama Papers. Last week, the opposition had also drafted seven questions, which, it insists, the premier must answer.

Among other questions, the opposition demands that the prime minister disclose his family’s sources of wealth, their properties and bank accounts abroad, their net worth and the taxes they have paid over the past 30 years.

On Friday, the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Naveed Qamar informed the speaker that opposition will not come in the house unless prime minister answers the seven questions with regard to Panama Leaks.

National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq asked Minister for Kashmir Affairs Muhammad Barjees Tahir and Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Riaz Hussain Pirzada to bring the opposition lawmakers back to the house.  However, their efforts remained unsuccessful.

Later, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Amjad Ali Khan pointed out the lack of quorum and the speaker suspended the proceedings. After 30 minutes the ruling party’s members started gathering in the house and the proceedings were resumed.

Interestingly, not a single minister was available in the house when the ruling party members put questions on different issues. The speaker was also irked by the absence of ministers.

However, Minister of States and Frontier Regions (Safron) Abdul Qadir Baloch told the speaker that four ministers – including Law Minister Zahid Hamid and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif – were present in the house in the beginning but later left for the Senate session.

On a point of order, the ruling party’s MNA Talal Chaudhry reiterated that Prime Minister Nawaz will come in the house on Monday and respond to the seven questions asked by the opposition. However, he criticised the opposition for boycotting the house on a daily basis.

The lower house also passed the Explosive Substances Amendment Bill, 2016. It also passed a resolution against the honour killing of a 16-year-old girl on the order of a jirga in Abbottabad.

The resolution was moved by MNA Shaista Pervez Malik. “Over the last five months, two cases of honour killing have been reported which is unfortunate,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2016.