LAHORE, March 7: Opposition members walked out of the Punjab Assembly on Wednesday in protest against what they called ‘poor performance’ of the ministers.
The opposition members returned to the house after half-a-minute or so.
After their return, Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat informed the house that some of his cabinet colleagues were in the learning process.
“Everyone can’t give a complete answer. Sometimes someone is not fully prepared. There are certain opposition members who never stood up to speak. The opposition should not condemn such ministers who are unable to give satisfactory answers. They are actually in the learning process,” he said on a point of order.
PPP’s Rana Aftab responded to the law minister’s assertion by asking why were some able people not made ministers in spite of the fact that the government has 271 members.
“Does the government not have enough able people that could represent their departments in a better way? Better people should be made ministers. This exposes the good governance claims and the writ of the present government.”
Deputy opposition leader Rana Sanaullah expressed surprise over the statement of Raja Basharat and said the ministers had been in the learning process for the past four-and-a-half years. “How much more time they would require?” he asked on a point of order.
He said a majority of the ministers relied on the briefings by the secretaries of their respective departments. “I have submitted an adjournment motion some three months ago about the illegal removal of the kidney of a boy in my constituency. A house sub-committee had directed the health authorities to hold a detailed probe, fix responsibility and submit report in a month which has not been done so far.”
MMA’s Syed Ehsanullah Waqas drew the attention of the house towards what he termed `ridiculous answers’ given in the principles of policy report. He urged the chair to spare a full day for debate on the report.
The token boycott of the opposition was in reaction of the statements of Forests Minister Dr Ashfaqur Rahman and Fisheries Minister Darya Khan in response to supplementary questions of opposition members regarding their departments.