ISLAMABAD, Sept 24: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz continued to meet legislators in the National Assembly on Friday as the Speaker, Chaudhry Amir Hussain, on two different occasions directed the members to maintain order in the House.
The prime minister arrived in the assembly on Friday at 10:30am and continued to stay till the time the session was prorogued by the Speaker as the opposition pressed for a head count to point out lack of quorum.
Sources said the prime minister made his presence felt in the assembly to ensure the presence of ruling party members but the move did not have a significant impact. When Khawaja Asif pointed out the lack of quorum, the prime minister directed the law minister, Wasi Zafar, and minister for parliamentary affairs, Dr Sher Afgan, to gather the required number of treasury MNAs.
The law minister directed the staff to rush to the Senate and the prime minister's chamber to call the ministers and MNAs, who might have been present there to meet the required numbers.
The Speaker did not take the bait of Khawaja Asif, who challenged him to count the MNAs present in the hall as the opposition MNA disputed the official announcement by Chaudhry Amir Hussain that 90 and then 98 members were present after two head counts were made in a short duration of time.
"Even now only 79 members are present," Khawaja Asif continued to shout from his chair. Sensing the embarrassment which may have been caused to the leader of the House due to lack of quorum despite the presence of the prime minister in the House, the Speaker immediately read the prorogue order. The assembly did not complete all the seven items on the agenda before it was prorogued.
Earlier, the prime minister continued to meet the MNAs individually, who lined up to talk to him as the question hour and the calling attention notice were under discussion. The prime minister, with some MNAs in tow, also went to the treasury back benches, sat there for some time and continued to discuss matters with ruling party MNAs.
Some MNAs from the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, including Liaquat Baloch and Fareed Ahmed Piracha, walked upto the prime minister and gave him some white papers, which seemed like applications needing favours from Mr Aziz.
As other MNAs met the prime minister, he continued to gather their chits of papers. In the long line-up of MNAs and ministers, who met the prime minister while the proceedings were going on included Liaquat Baloch, Fareed Ahmed Piracha, Amin Aslam, Doniya Aziz, Wasi Zafar, Zobaida Jalal, Saleem Jan Mazari, MP Bhandara, Nauraiz Shakoor, Awais Leghari, Nasir Khan and others.
The only exception in the prime minister's meetings with the MNAs on the floor of the House during the session was the veteran politician Mehmood Khan Achakzai. The prime minister walked upto Mr Achakzai and talked to him for some time while sitting on the front row of the opposition benches.
As the prime minister continued to meet the MNAs, some opposition members pointed out the lack of order in the House to which the Speaker agreed and on two different occasions directed the members to maintain order in the House.