National Assembly: Lower house cannot critique upper house

Speaker terms lawmaker’s critique of Chairman Senate a ‘violation of rules’.

ISLAMABAD:

In an attempt to protect their party member, the opposition in the National Assembly on Thursday pointed to insufficient quorum in the house, bringing the budget session to an abrupt end.

The move barred the speaker from giving a ruling against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz member Anusha Rehman for composing an article criticising the conduct of Senate chairman.

Both the treasury and opposition benches had a tacit understanding on quorum, with both sides agreeing not to point it out during the budget session.

PML-N’s Rana Tanveer, therefore, astonished members of the treasury benches by pointing out the lack of quorum at a time when most women lawmakers had stepped out to consult the Pakistan Peoples Party chief whip on a motion.

‘Dangerous precedent’

Speaking on a point of order, Law Minster Maula Bux Chandio objected to a member of the National Assembly writing in a newspaper about Senate chairman.

“A member of one house should not have commented on the conduct of the other house of parliament,” he said.

“It is setting a dangerous precedent.”

Despite PML-N lawmakers Mehtab Abbasi and Rana Tanveer’s insistence that Chandio’s point was irrelevant as “every member was free to write anything”, the speaker of the National Assembly Fehmida Mirza said that Rehman, who was not present in the house, had certainly violated rules.

The session was prorogued, however, before the speaker could give her ruling as the minimum number of members required for the conduct of the house was not met.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2011.