NA session wrapped up in less than a minute

Govt fails to complete quorum for the fifth straight day on Friday

ISLAMABAD:

The seriousness of the ruling party in running the business of the National Assembly can be gauged from the fact that it failed to complete quorum for the fifth consecutive session on Friday as the assembly proceedings wrapped up in less than a minute.

Though the ruling government has performed better in terms of legislation during the recently-concluded third parliamentary year and completed its mandatory 130 days in the House, it appears that quorum is one of its least priorities.

On Friday, the session had to be adjourned without any proceedings whatsoever till Monday after a member from the opposition parties pointed out the poor attendance, rendering it yet another unproductive session.

The persistent issue of quorum which continues to haunt the ruling government’s fourth year in parliament has provided the opposition with fresh fodder to bolster its claims that the conspicuously empty treasury benches betray the waning trust in the government’s performance among its own members.

“PTI's members of the National Assembly are displeased over the bad governance of the ruling party,” Central Information Secretary Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians Shazia Atta Marri said, deploring that “even today the business of National Assembly couldn't be conducted properly due to the lack of the quorum.”

The PPP leader said that “now the members of the National Assembly of PTI's government have refused to lend their support to the government of liars”.

Marri said discontent was also brewing in the ranks of the party over recent corruption scandals of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s “financial facilitators”, adding that people bearing the brunt of unemployment and inflation had lost their patience and were ready to turn their guns against the government.

“Ruling party's members have grown tired of PM’s repetitive unproductive speeches for three years,” she said.

In 2018, when the premier took oath for the office, he had made commitments to empower the parliament and attend the National Assembly sessions at least twice a month to answer other lawmakers’ questions. However, in the first two-and-a-half parliamentary years’ comparison, it turned out that his attendance was lower than the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.