ISLAMABAD, Feb 24: The government faced repeated embarrassments on Thursday when the National Assembly speaker censured some ministers and state ministers for remaining absent from the lower house to answer the questions.

The absence of the relevant minister during the 'Question Hour' also allowed the opposition an opportunity to seek an apology on the floor of the House from the parliamentary secretary for privatization, Dr Javed Shah, for the remarks he passed which were construed as being threatening.

Another embarrassment was caused when Minister of State for Finance Omer Ayub had to retreat from his argument of taking 'collective cabinet responsibility' after he had already volunteered to do the same while answering a question not related to his ministry.

On a number of occasions, Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain asked the members to give fresh notice for a question as the reply from the government was not satisfactory or the relevant minister was absent.

Pointing out the absence of the relevant ministers, ministers of state and the parliamentary secretaries from the front rows of the treasury benches, Naveed Qamar of the Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPP) asked, "is the army of ministers on vacation?"

Earlier on Wednesday, the House was told that a sum of Rs119 million is being spent on the salaries of the top parliamentary functionaries of the government, including more than 60 ministers, ministers of state and advisers to the prime minister.

Taking a strict view of the absence of the ministers, the speaker directed the minister for parliamentary affairs, Dr Sher Afgan, to "bring the matter to the notice of the prime minister in black and white."

Noting the unsatisfactory performance of the government during the 'Question Hour', the speaker observed that answers to the questions were not given to the parliamentary secretaries in time.

He directed Dr Afgan to ask the prime minister to issue directives so that answers were received well before time and ensure the presence of the ministers, ministers of state and the parliamentary secretaries during the 'Question Hour'.