ISLAMABAD: Lack of interest shown by lawmakers, especially by those sitting on treasury benches, on Wednesday put National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser in an embarrassing situation, forcing him to defer an important debate on issues related to the agriculture sector after the house passed the Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Bill, 2019, with a majority vote.

The speaker, who had taken the personal initiative for holding the debate and had allocated nine hours’ time for the discussion on the issues related to the agriculture sector, deferred the debate till Friday after opposition members protested over the absence of the minister and relevant officials of his ministry and threatened to disrupt proceedings by pointing out quorum, if he allowed the debate to continue.

As soon as the speaker gave floor to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) member Fakhar Imam to open the debate, PML-N MNA from Abbottabad and former deputy speaker of the assembly Murtaza Javed Abbasi interrupted and said the poor attendance of treasury members showed “seriousness” of the government in resolving farmers’ problems.

“I hope you will adjourn the sitting on your own before I point out quorum,” Mr Abbasi said while pointing towards empty treasury benches.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan endorsed Mr Abbasi’s viewpoint, saying there could be no meaningful debate on the issue without the presence of the minister and other officials of the ministry concerned in the house and its gallery.

The speaker said the minister had informed him that he would be busy in a meeting. He, however, said besides the minister even the secretary was not present in the house and, therefore, he would have to defer the debate.

Speaking on a point of order, Khurram Dastagir Khan demanded that Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi should be called for a parliamentary briefing on the recent peace agreement signed between the US and Afghan Taliban in Doha (Qatar).

Mr Khan, who had served as minister of defence and foreign affairs in the previous PML-N government, said the foreign minister should apprise the house as to what role Pakistan had played in the whole process and what kind of cooperation Islamabad had extended to the US.

The PML-N lawmaker said that the representative of the Taliban who had signed the peace agreement was in the custody of the Pakistan government till 2018.

“Tell us, how many Taliban leaders have been freed,” he asked.

The speaker told Mr Khan that he had already convened a special meeting of the leaders of all the parties on March 20 in which the government would give an in-camera briefing on the Afghan peace deal.

Earlier, the house passed the Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Bill, 2019, with a majority vote days after the Senate had also given its approval to legislation that seeks to expedite investigation and punishment for perpetrators of child abuse.

Having received approval from both houses of parliament, the bill now requires the president’s assent before becoming law.

The bill — named after nine-year-old Zainab Ansari, who was murdered after being raped in Kasur in 2018 — was first tabled by Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari in June last year after multiple cases of horrific crimes against children emerged, mainly from Kasur.

The bill, which was first passed by the National Assembly in January this year, was approved by the Senate last week with some amendments that included expanding the ambit of the bill, which was earlier limited to Islamabad only, to the entire country.

Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) MNA from Chitral Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali was the lone opponent of the bill, alleging that the bill was being bulldozed without providing sufficient time to members to submit amendments.

Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari criticised Maulana Chitrali, saying his party had made no contribution towards the passage of the bill. She said that the MNA from Chitral did not suggest any amendment at any stage despite the fact that the bill remained under discussion for over a year in committees of the assembly and Senate, but he was voicing his opposition when the process was about to be completed.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2020