Last NA sitting of year lasts only 12 minutes
PHOTO: APP/FILE
The National Assembly session on Friday lasted only 12 minutes because as soon as the proceedings started, the opposition pointed out the quorum and the House was adjourned indefinitely.
The proceedings kicked off with NA Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri in the chair.
Prayers were offered for departed soul of MNA Andleeb Abbas’ mother. Maulana Abdul Kabir Chitrali led the prayers.
At the beginning of Question Hour, PTI MNA Uzma Riaz inquired that t Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar has announced that Pakistan has achieved the target of fully vaccinating 70 million people by the end of 2021. The culprit in the Noor Mukadam murder case had set up a rehabilitation centre.
The ministry does not have data on private therapy centres,” she added.
During this, opposition members started protesting and asked for permission to speak.
The deputy speaker told the opposition lawmakers that he would allow them to speak after the Question hour. However, the opposition lawmakers repeatedly shouted “quorum”.
Instead of counting, the session was adjourned indefinitely.
Separately, the PPP has decided to move a no-confidence motion against NA Speaker Asad Qaiser after consultations with other opposition parties for “attacking the Constitution” and “committing a crime against this country” by extending six expired ordinances.
On Thursday, the PTI government had introduced a “mini-budget” to the tune of Rs375 billion, granted autonomy to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and extended a number of expired ordinances amid the opposition’s protests.
PPP leaders Syed Naveed Qamar and Shazia Atta Marri wrote a letter to the NA speaker in this regard and later held a news conference along with Faisal Karim Kundi, wherein they announced the no-confidence move.
“In flagrant disregarding it to serve the interest of the federal government, you have committed a crime against this country,” Qamar and Marri stated in the letter. “Given that there is no provision in the Constitution to extend an already expired ordinance, it was the speaker’s responsibility as custodian of the house to reject the move by the government,” it added.
“However, in a clearly partisan role, you not only admitted the agenda, you also allowed for it to pass, making yourself complicit in this attack on the Constitution of this country.”
The PPP leaders said that the speaker’s actions on December 30 were completely “unconstitutional and illegal” and were taken despite legislators highlighting the “Constitutional violation” to him on the floor of the House and subsequently protesting against it.
They maintained that the PPP “unconditionally calls out the illegal and unconstitutional proceedings of the House yesterday and categorically rejects your criminal actions therein”.
The lawmakers demanded that the extension of the six expired ordinances be reversed and the expiration upheld as per the Constitution. Referring to the agenda, they said that six out of eight expired ordinances were brought for extension in a “blatantly unconstitutional” move.