LAHORE: The Business Advisory Committee of the Punjab Assembly at a huddle here on Monday decided to hold a session of the house in the light of the safety measures suggested by the opposition to become the first elected house of the country meeting during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Chaired by Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari, the meeting was attended by Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Muhammad Basharat Raja, MPAs Malik Nadeem Kamran, Samiullah Khan, Tahir Khalil Sandhu, Ali Raza Gilani, Ali Abbas Shah and Zeshan Rafiq, Assembly Secretary Muhammad Khan Bhatti and Parliamentary Affairs Director-General Inayatullah Lak.

The participants agreed to the proposal that only 100 out of 371 members of the house would attend proceedings on each day of the four-day session starting from Friday (May 8). Under the formula, the treasury side will comprise 52 lawmakers, while the opposition side will be represented by 48 members daily so that no constituency goes unrepresented.

Parliamentary leaders of all the parties will give day-wise lists of their respective MPAs attending the session on Tuesday (today).

None other than those nominated in the lists will be allowed to join the proceedings, while no member will bring his staff and/or guests with him/her to the building. Each minister may bring but just one member of his/her personal staff with him/her.

Only the minister concerned will be present in the house at a given time for answering questions or responding to adjournment and privilege motions.

It was suggested that all lawmakers will get themselves tested for novel coronavirus, while all those attending the session and assembly staff would sport face masks and gloves and would pass through the sanitiser gate to be installed at the entrance of the assembly building, while their body temperature would also be recorded with thermal guns.

Also only limited number of journalists will be allowed access to the Press Gallery as a portion of it will be included into the assembly hall to create more room for ensuring social distancing among the MPAs, it was decided.

Senior PML-N parliamentarian Samiullah Khan says the opposition has already formed its groups comprising 10 members each on district and division basis to improve their coordination and performance and on the basis of it will submit their names to the assembly secretariat.

Replying to a query, he says those coming from outside Lahore will be offered accommodation in the assembly hostel and Chamba House.

Answering a question about why the opposition is insisting on holding the session notwithstanding the pandemic, he says that at a time when all other state institutions are functioning after devising a set of standard operating procedures it will be giving a negative message to the masses if democratic institutions remain non-functional and overlook their duty of overseeing working of the government. Moreover, when almost all other sectors are being opened by the government in the name of easing the lockdown, there is no justification for keeping the elected houses closed, he adds.

Meanwhile, Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has issued production orders for opposition leader Hamza Shahbaz to enable him to attend the session.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2020