LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly met here on Thursday only for eight minutes to adjourn its proceedings for Friday morning immediately after recitation of a few verses from the Holy Quran and a na’at.

Making a mockery of the objective for which the legislatures are established, the House neither took up any of the eight laws on its agenda for the day nor the all-important Question Hour and other usual business.

Two bills, the Punjab Land Revenue (Amendment) Bill 2015 and the Punjab Partition of Immovable Property (Amendment) Bill 2015, were to be introduced as per agenda issued by the assembly secretariat. Whereas six bills — the Punjab Security of Vulnerable Establishments Bill 2015, the Punjab Arms (Amendment) Bill 2015, the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill 2015, the Punjab Criminal Prosecution Service (Constitution, Functions and Powers) (Amendment) Bill 2015, the Punjab Sound Systems (Regulation) Bill 2015 and the Punjab Prohibition of Expressing Matters on Walls (Amendment) Bill 2015 -- were to be considered and passed by the House.

In a rare show of starting the session in time (just a couple of minutes behind the schedule against an average and routine of over an hour delay) only 11 MPAs were present at the beginning and 20 when the proceedings were abruptly put off by the chair eight minutes later, apparently to facilitate the members to cast their votes in the Senate polls being held in a committee room of the assembly’s building.

Published in Dawn March 6th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play