ISLAMABAD: The menace of absenteeism continued to haunt the National Assembly as proceedings of the house were adjourned on Monday without taking up any agenda item once again because of lack of quorum.

Soon after recitation from the Quran and of Naat, Dr Shireen Mazari of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) pointed out lack of quorum when National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq refused to give her the floor, forcing the latter to order a count of the members and then suspend the proceedings till completion of the quorum.

Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi later returned to the house after an hour only to announce the adjournment of the sitting till Tuesday morning as there was no significant improvement in attendance. The National Assembly, in fact, remained in session just for 11 minutes.

Under rules, the presence of one-fourth (86 members) of the 342-member house is required to carry on the business. The house, however, can still carry on the proceedings even without a quorum, if not pointed out by any member. The rules are often used by opposition parties as a mark of protest on any issue and to embarrass the government, as it is primarily the responsibility of the ruling party to ensure a quorum during a regular session of parliament.

Lower house of parliament remains in session for a mere 11 minutes

According to a fact-sheet issued by the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) soon after Monday’s session, as many as 34 (10 per cent) lawmakers were present at the outset and 69 (20pc) at the adjournment of the sitting.

The house did not take up any item on the 13-point agenda, which included two bills and presentation of two reports of standing committees and an annual report of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) in the house.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was present in the Parliament House building just a few minutes before the start of the National Assembly’s session. Mr Abbasi came to the Parliament House to lay a wreath at the Monument Wall of Unsung Heroes of Democracy with Speaker Ayaz Sadiq and Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani.

The prime minister remained there for a few minutes and even held a brief interaction with media representatives, but did not attend the sitting of the National Assembly or the Senate as both houses were in session and left the Parliament House due to some other official engagements.

The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has been finding it difficult to ensure presence of its members in the house for the past few months, giving credence to reports about internal groupings within the party.

Speaker Ayaz Sadiq has also on a number of occasions expressed his annoyance over the absence of members and ministers in particular from the house and vowed to take up the matter with the prime minister.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2018