Only 20% MNAs attend all sittings of assembly

37 lawmakers skip entire National Assembly session

ISLAMABAD:

Only 65 of the 332 members of the National Assembly, or 20 per cent, attended all eight sittings of its 29th session held from August 17 to August 28, while 37 members, or 11 per cent, did not attend a single sitting.

According to a report published on the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) website, the fourth sitting recorded the highest attendance, with 247 MNAs, or 74 per cent of the current membership, present.

The fifth sitting had the lowest attendance, with 179 MNAs, or 54 per cent, attending. As many as 267 MNAs, or 80 per cent, missed at least one sitting during the session. Among cabinet members belonging to the NA, one federal minister attended all eight sittings, while three ministers—two federal ministers and one minister of state—did not attend any sitting.

The PM attended one sitting, whereas the leader of the opposition participated in seven of the eight sittings. The Fafen report said that of the 26 federal ministers scheduled to respond to questions during question hour, 12 were present on the days they were required to answer.