NA session adjourned again due to lack of quorum

Opposition members kept blowing whistles to create hurdles in proceedings

ISLAMABAD:

The National Assembly on Tuesday adjourned the proceedings till Friday as the government was again unable to meet the quorum.

During the session, chaired by Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, the opposition adopted a unique technique of creating hurdles in the proceedings. They had brought with them whistles, which they kept blowing whenever a bill was being considered. They didn’t even respect the national anthem and started blowing whistles when it was being played at the outset.

Initially chanting slogans, the members first surrounded the speaker’s dice and then started the protest by blowing whistles and tore copies of the agenda and threw them at the dice.

The deputy speaker kept urging the opposition members, who had surrounded the dice during the protest, to keep their distance and wear masks due to coronavirus.

The ruckus caused difficulties for the deputy speaker in conducting the proceedings.

About 21 bills of the treasury benches and 22 of the opposition were under consideration.

The 22 private bills were deferred while 21 presented by government members were referred to the standing committees for further consideration.

Taking to the floor, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the bills of the opposition should be rejected. “When they have no interest in the proceedings and are creating noise, we should reject their bills. They will continue blowing whistles for the next three years.”

Only 103 points of the 169 agenda items of the day could be considered on the private members day.

Quorum was pointed out twice during the session. The first time the opposition's tactic failed but the second time the government failed to meet the quorum and therefore, the meeting was adjourned till 10:30am on Friday.

MQM-Pakistan's Iqbal Muhammad Ali introduced a private member's bill against match-fixing and spot-fixing, which was referred to the relevant standing committee.

The National Assembly passed the Islamabad Food Safety Bill 2020, Islamabad Rent Restriction Amendment Bill and Islamabad Real Estate Regulation and Development Bill by a majority vote.