The Punjab Assembly (PA)’s Friday sitting, requisitioned by the opposition to discuss the government’s response to the dengue fever epidemic, was adjourned after half and hour as not enough members bothered to show up for proceedings to meet quorum.
The session, scheduled to begin at 3pm, started at 5.15pm. After recitation from the Holy Quran, Nargis Faiz of the Pakistan Peoples Party stood on a point of order to accuse the Punjab government of cruelty towards women. She mentioned recent incidents that have been in the news, including the rape of a 7-year-old girl in Rawalpindi and the harassment of teachers at a girls school, citing them as evidence that the government did not care about half the population.
PML-N women MPAs tried to respond to the accusations, but the speaker would not allow them to.
They stood up and walked out. Their male colleagues did so too. MPA Asghar Ali Monda then pointed out that there was a lack of quorum as less than 93 members were present. The speaker waited five minutes, then adjourned for half an hour for prayers.
When the speaker came back after the break, the PPP members were still in house while the treasury benches were empty, except for Monda. He again pointed out the lack of quorum. As the speaker tried to count the members, Leader of the Opposition Raja Riaz stood up, complained about the treasury’s “non-serious attitude”, and announced that the opposition was walking out in protest.
The speaker took no notice, continuing with his count and then adjourning proceedings.
The session was requisitioned by the opposition to discuss two subjects – dengue and Unification Bloc leader Dr Tahir Ali Javed’s controversial statement about the dissolution of the assembly. But as in previous sessions it has requisitioned, the opposition was unable to reach quorum.
The requisition request for the session was signed by 137 opposition members, including 108 from the PPP and 29 from the PML-Quaid. However, only around 70 opposition members were in the house on Friday. Chaudhry Zaheeruddin Khan, PML-Q’s parliamentary leader in the assembly, was among the absentees.
According to the assembly accounts department, approximately Rs10.3 million is required to keep the house in session for a day. Friday’s sitting lasted about half an hour.
Talking to journalists outside the house, Opposition Leader Raja Riaz said that the PPP had decided at its parliamentary party meeting to march in a rally from the assembly to 90 The Mall on Saturday afternoon and stage a sit-in at the chief minister’s office.
He said that FIRs should be registered against Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for each of the over 200 people who had died in this year’s dengue outbreak.
Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said that if the PPP staged a sit-in at the CM’s office, they would be served refreshments.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 15th, 2011.
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