Body formed to promote democratic norms in NA

TORs include encouraging young MNAs to participate in NA proceedings

ISLAMABAD:

The National Assembly speaker has formed a council of senior parliamentarians to promote democratic and parliamentary norms across the party divide line.

“The TORs [terms of reference] of the council include the promotion of established parliamentary norms and to encourage young parliamentarians to participate in the proceedings of the house,” according to an official notification issued on Wednesday.

The council would also ensure issue-based debate and avoidance of any “sexist, religious or ethnic slogans” during the proceedings of the house. Moreover, it would also assist the chair in implementing the democratic established norms in the house.

The notification read that NA speaker would chair the council and NA Secretary Tahir Hussain is its secretary. MNAs Syed Fakhar Iman, Shafqat Mahmood, Pervaiz Khattak, Dr Fehmida Mirza, Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddique, Khalid Hussain Magsi, Ch Tariq Bashir Cheema, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Ch Mahmood Bashir Virk, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Aftab Shaban Mirani, Shahida Akhtar Ali and Akhtar Mengal are members of the council.

According to the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen), 28 sessions – equivalent to 198 sittings – of  the NA have been held since the PTI came into power. In these sittings, quorum was pointed out 46 times and 31 of these sittings had to be adjourned.

Simply put, quorum means the minimum number of members required to be present at a sitting of the house for transaction of its business. In the 342-member National Assembly, the presence of 86 members (one-fourth of the 342) is required under the rules to smoothly run the house proceedings.

Fafen – a non-governmental organisation which provides parliamentary, governance, political and elections oversight – states that from August 13, 2018 till February 4, 2021, the NA has held 28 sessions or 198 sittings.

Surprisingly, the treasury benches have also pointed out quorum on two occasions since August 13, 2018. On one occasion, it was found complete while on the other occasion, the session was adjourned.

According to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 2007, if at any time during a sitting, attention of the chairperson is drawn to the fact that less than one-fourth of the total membership of the assembly is present, he shall either suspend the business until at least one-fourth of such membership is present, or cause the bells to be rung for five minutes.

The rules state that if no quorum is available even on resumption of the proceedings after suspension or, when the bells stop ringing, the speaker shall adjourn the sitting for the next working day provided that the suspension of the business of the sitting shall not be for more than one hour.

According to the rules, the quorum for a committee is also one fourth of the total membership of that committee. Just like NA session, if at any time fixed for any sitting of a committee or at any time during any such sitting, the number of members present is less than the quorum, the chairman of the committee shall either suspend the sitting for a time not exceeding one hour or adjourn the sitting.