ISLAMABAD, June 4: Absence of ministers and inability of parliamentary secretaries to give satisfactory replies to questions created an embarrassing situation for the government during the question hour in the National Assembly session on Friday.

Forced by opposition's vociferous protest, Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain asked the chief whip of the ruling party, Sardar Nasrullah Khan Dareshak, to inform Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali about the issue.

"Please, convey to the prime minister on my behalf that he (Mr Jamali) should ask the ministers and parliamentary secretaries to attend the assembly session, at least, on the day when they are required to give answers to the questions," the speaker told the chief whip when he failed to respond to a supplementary question owing to the absence of Information Technology Minister Awais Leghari. There were only three ministers present in the House when the speaker opened the question hour.

When the PML-N MNA from Faisalabad, Rana Tauseef Ahmed, asked a supplementary question whether the government had intention to enhance the range of local telephone calls, the speaker found that the minister for IT was absent.

The speaker asked Federal Minister for Information Sheikh Rashid Ahmed to respond on behalf of Mr Leghari but he expressed his inability saying: "Mr Speaker, I have not been briefed by the concerned minister on the subject. Therefore, I request you to defer the question."

Mr Leghari came to the House just before the end of the question hour and the speaker again gave the floor to the PML-N MNA to ask the supplementary question. The speaker had to issue the same directive again when some MMA members moved a call attention notice concerning the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Interior Minister Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat was not present in the House to respond to the questions.

When the parliamentary secretary for interior, Sanaullah Mastikhel, was asked to respond on behalf of the interior minister, he flatly refused, saying that he had no knowledge of the issue and he could not answer. He said the interior minister should come and reply.

This reply infuriated the speaker who said the ministers and parliamentary secretaries should come to the session after doing their homework properly. Then he gave the floor to Federal Minister for Railways Ghaus Bakhsh Mahar to reply to the questions regarding the CDA.

At this, members of both the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) protested and refused to listen to the minister asking the speaker to defer the matter till the interior minister had arrived.