MUZAFFARABAD: The Legislative Assembly of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) was prorogued sine die less than an hour after it met here on Monday over a quorum issue created by disinterest of the treasury members.

The session was convened by the government to meet a constitutional requirement according to which the assembly must meet once every three months, though the number of sittings has not been specified.

When the house, presided over by Speaker Sardar Ghulam Sadiq, started its proceedings, nine members of the treasury and 12 of the opposition, mostly from PML-N, were attending.

Soon afterwards, all except three treasury members slipped away.

In response to a short-notice question by leader of the opposition Raja Farooq Haider about how much funds had been re-appropriated by the government, law minister Azhar Hussein Gillani had said he could furnish an answer in three to four days.

To this, the leader of the opposition said that the members were not taking interest in the proceedings of the house, which was not good for the system and that both sides of the divide were responsible for this.

However, his deputy Chaudhry Tariq Farooq slightly disagreed with him and said the opposition had participated in the proceedings wholeheartedly from the first day, unlike members of the treasury who, he said, had made a mockery of the legislature.

He said some ministers did not attend sessions or avoided questions from the opposition which, he claimed, proved that they were not answerable to the parliament, but to some other house.

He seemed to be referring to Zardari House in Islamabad, which has been interfering in the AJK government over the last five years.

In imitation of their rulers, the bureaucracy had also developed a habit of looking at the same house for directions, he added.

Accusing the treasury of “establishing shameful traditions over the last five years” he also criticised the speaker for “favouritism and other corrupt practices”.

Leader of the opposition, Raja Farooq Haider took floor again and pointed out that Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed was witnessing the proceedings from the next room but was not attending which, he said, spoke volumes about the intentions of the incumbent government.

When Sardar Mir Akbar Khan, a former Muslim Conference (MC) MLA who has recently switched over to PML-N, took floor to explain his position with regard to a reference filed against him by his former party, two of three MC legislators also left the house.

After Information Minister Abid Hussein Abid whispered something to him, MQM’s Tahir Khokar then stood up and pointed out the lack of quorum.

After the lack of quorum was pointed out, bells were rung and the session was adjourned for 15 minutes. When the house met again, the quorum was still incomplete.

The speaker then prorogued the session sine die, i.e. with no appointed date for resumption, ignoring calls from opposition to adjourn it till the next day.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2016