September 07, 2006	Thursday	Sha'aban 13, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 6: National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain on Wednesday scolded Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Ijazul Haq for coming late to the house and that too without a reply to the question asked by a member regarding disbursement of Zakat in provinces.

At the outset of the Question Hour, the opposition members pointed out that the religious affairs minister was not present in the house to respond to their supplementary questions and to tell them the reason as to why he had not submitted the reply to a question that had been coming to the agenda items for the past two months.

This enraged the speaker, who asked Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sher Afgan to advise him what should be done to ensure the presence of the ministers in the house as it had become a routine matter.

“The religious affairs minister was also not present last time, what does it mean?” the speaker said. “There is a limit to everything. Why should I not adjourn the house till the time ministers are free to attend the session,” the speaker went on to say. He said it was a matter of the assembly’s prestige.

Dr Sher Afgan said nothing could be important than the National Assembly session and the ministers should come to the parliament. He, however, requested the speaker not to adjourn the sitting.

Ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) MNA Riaz Hussain Pirzada said there was a large number of ministers, state ministers and parliamentary secretaries and every department was being looked after at least by three persons.