PESHAWAR: Sloganeering and lack of quorum disrupted the proceedings of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday and thus, forcing the chair to adjourn the sitting.

The Jamaat-i-Islami also came hard on its partner of the ruling coalition, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, over the absence of ministers and advisers from the session.

Only parliamentary secretary for environment Fazal Elahi was present in the house to respond to the members’ queries.

Deputy Speaker Dr Meher Taj Roghani chaired the sitting.

The lawmakers of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Awami National Party shouted ‘go Imran go’ slogans.

The house began proceedings with the question hour. Several questions regarding the environment department were disposed of. The disturbance began when Sahibzada Sanaullah of the Pakistan People’s Party demanded inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the appointments to Upper and Lower Dir forest department.

The PPP lawmaker insisted that the minimum qualification for applicants was FSc but the government recruited matriculates in violation of merit.

The JI members requested the chair to defer the questions due to the absence of the relevant minister.

The relevant parliamentary secretary, Fazal Elahi, insisted that the rule of merit had been followed in the said appointments and that the minimum required qualification for those posts was matriculation with science subjects.

The PPP lawmaker however demanded that the question be referred to the standing committee on environment.

Begum Meraj Hamayun of the Qaumi Watan Party complained that most of the house committees were ineffective and redundant.

She added that the committees didn’t meet regularly.

The lawmaker also pointed out a lack of quorum prompting the chair to order headcount. After finding out that the house lacked quorum, the deputy speaker adjourned the session until 3pm on Tuesday.

The lack of quorum triggered protest by the PML-N and ANP MPAs, who shouted slogans against the government.

Members of the ruling PTI proceeded to Islamabad along with their supporters before the session to attend the party’s public meeting against the prime minister over the Supreme Court’s Panamagate verdict.

JI lawmaker Mohammad Ali Khan criticised the PTI ministers and advisers for not attending the session and said the government had ignored the august forum.

He said questions regarding the forest department submitted eight months ago had been awaiting formal replies due to the absence of the relevant adviser.

The lawmaker regretted that the cabinet members didn’t come to the house despite enjoying all perks and privileges.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2017