K-P assembly unable to transact agenda

Lawmakers suspended by ECP absent from house

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assembly could not hold a sitting on Friday after a large number of lawmakers, suspended by the Election Commission of Pakistan for not submitting their statement of assets and liabilities, did not attend the session leaving the quorum incomplete.

Apart from the 38 lawmakers who have been suspended by the ECP, a number of government members, ministers in particular, were conspicuous in their absence on Friday. This resulted in a lower-than-usual turn out of lawmakers.



Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly Deputy Speaker Dr Mehar Taj Roghani expressed her displeasure over the absence of lawmakers whose memberships are intact.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) lawmaker Fakhr Azam, who was not allowed to speak on a point of order, pointed out the incomplete quorum in the house in his frustration.

After the staff counted the number of lawmakers present and found that the quorum was incomplete, Dr Roghani adjourned the assembly session till Monday.

Earlier, Dr Roghani had to defer the question hour due to the absence of ministers and lawmakers who were due to ask questions.

The ECP had suspended the membership of 38 lawmakers — belonging to both the treasury and the opposition benches — for failing to submit their statements of assets and liabilities with the apex poll body as per law.

ECP subsequently barred them from attending the assembly.

Dr Roghani said that of those suspended, two lawmakers had submitted their statements, while the remaining 36 are yet to submit their asset details. She urged the lawmakers to submit their asset statement so that they can resume sitting.

She also expressed their annoyance over the absence of the administrative secretaries during the sitting and announced that she would write to the K-P chief secretary and complain about the lack of the responsibility displayed by the secretaries.

After Friday’s session ended prematurely, the agenda of the day could not be completed despite the fact that it included the K-P Mineral Sector Governance Bill 2017, which was supposed to be passed by the government.

A bill to amend the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Public Service Commission Ordinance 1978, to increase the term of commission’s members from three years to four, was also on the agenda.

The house also referred a privilege motion of lawmaker Uzma Khan to the assembly’s privilege committee.



The motion had been moved against the director of the Area Study Centre at the University of Peshawar who had yet to relinquish the seat despite having completed his term in 2013.

She said that the Peshawar High Court and the Higher Education Commission have also ordered to remove Area Study Centre Director Dr Sarfaraz Khan and the K-P assembly standing committee on higher education had also issued directions to the university’s vice chancellor to act per the high court’s orders, but action has yet to be taken on the matter.

She urged the house to refer the matter to the privilege committee and the house agreed to it.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2017.