Lack of quorum: Punjab Assembly session prorogued till today

The session was to start at 2pm, but did not get under way till 4:35pm on Monday

LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly session was prorogued till Tuesday (today) 10am by Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal due to a lack of quorum.

The session was to start at 2pm, but did not get under way till 4:35pm. As the question-answer session ended, opposition legislator Ahsan Riaz Fityana pointed to the lack of quorum. Consequently, the session was adjourned for five minutes and later for 15 minutes. Ultimately, it was completely prorogued as there were not enough treasury benchers present on the floor of the house.

Subsequently, PML-N and PTI parliamentarians chanted slogans against each other outside the assembly.

Opposition leader Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed told the media that the Punjab government did not seem serious about debating public issues. He demanded that the government resign as it always failed to complete the quorum. Rasheed claimed ‘go Nawaz go’ had become the slogan of the people and was being chanted on every street.

Meanwhile, Punjab Minister for Law Rana Ranaullah was certain PML-N would win the Panama case.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2017.