Quorum blues: Absenteeism rears its ugly head in NA again

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly lost another day of productivity on Friday when only 86 lawmakers turned up in the 342-member house, forcing the deputy speaker to cut short the proceedings.

Some 256 parliamentarians, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Leader of the Opposition Khursheed Shah, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan and NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, were absent on Friday.

This was the second time in a week that the ruling PML-N has faced such embarrassment. Like always, the house proceedings started almost half an hour later than the given time and according to Fafen observation, only 39 members were present at the outset. The opposition realised the situation at the beginning of the question hour and a female member from PTI pointed out the lack of quorum. By that time, six questions had already been taken up.

Once the lack of quorum was pointed out, a count was made as per the rules and the deputy speaker suspended the proceedings for another half an hour. As the house resumed, a count was made again but once again the quorum was incomplete.

Before the opposition could react and grill the government or make remarks, Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi adjourned the proceedings till Monday evening.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 13^th, 2016.