ISLAMABAD: The question hour of the parliament should ideally be about matters of governance and public importance, where parliamentarians grill the federal cabinet and opposition equally.
However, a review of the questions placed in the last five years blatantly reveals the failure of the members to take the federal government to task for mis-governance.
Furthermore, while most questions about legislative affairs were largely predictable and non-controversial, the context, logic and rationale behind others baffled the audience at times.
This is even more surprising given that each question is posed by the member through a written 15-day notice period, knowing that the question must be addressed to the concerned minister and should be precise and to the point.
According to various assistants, most of the time the parliamentarians are handed questions by interested parties who want information about a particular department, and the same are presented on the floor with absolutely no input from the lawmaker’s side.
“It is so unfortunate that the majority of my colleagues don’t take their responsibilities seriously,” a female lawmaker commented, “If even 75 per cent of the National Assembly’s 342 members had actively participated in the question hour session by asking well thought-out queries, there would have been some improvement in the working of the government departments.”
In the 48th session of the National Assembly, which lasted from December 10 to 21, 2012, the case was no different than the precedents set earlier as the priorities of the law-makers remained set at a different level. Here’s a recap of some questions that caught the eye…
The plane issues
Parveen Masood Bhatti, a lawmaker from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), was deeply curious to know about the price tags of lunch boxes served in domestic flights.
In a query addressed to the minister of defence, Ms Bhatti enquired whether refreshments or lunch boxes were being served on PIA aircraft during domestic flights, and the sum spent on providing lunch boxes to flights on the Islamabad, Lahore,Bahawalpur and Karachi routes for the year 2012-13.
The ministry of defence though decided to give her a cold shoulder on the matter.
Similarly, Tasneem Siddiqui of the PMLN asked the ministry of water and power whether it had its own aircraft. Luckily enough, the concerned minister responded that he did not have a plane in his ministry.
Holy and unholy matters
Meanwhile, Molvi Asmatullah, an independent member of the National Assembly, was concerned about commercial banks in the country observing prayer breaks during their working hours. Mr Asmatullah sought this answer from the minister for finance, revenue and planning and development, and was subsequently apprised that the employees were getting breaks to offer their prayers.
Unholy matters were also taken up by Ms Munira Shakir of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), who asked the interior minister for the names of hotels in Islamabad where trade of liquor was authorised and also a five-year record of the volume of liquor sold and purchased at the hotels. Unsurprisingly, she never received a reply.
Another PPP lawmaker, Dr Abdul Wahid Soomro, enquired from the minister for national regulations and services a four-year breakdown of NOCs issued by the ministry to Indian and English films-makers and producers. He also asked whether those NOCs were against the ideology of Islam and Pakistan. Dr Soomro has yet to receive a reply from the concerned ministry.
Utilities and civic amenities
Mohammad Afzal Khokhar of the PMLN took pains to pen down a question for the minister in-charge of the cabinet division, asking for updates on whether government quarters of blocks number 1 and 2, Gali No.16, Sector G-7/2, Islamabad had been white-washed, and if they hadn’t then when should that be expected.
He was informed that the paint job had not been carried out due to financial constraints.
Like him, Malik Shakeel Awan of the PMLN asked the minister of water and power about the status of electricity cables passingover/along the houses in his constituency (NA-55) and the neighboring NA-56. Muhammad Riaz Malik of the PMLN asked the minister for works for a city-wise breakdown of rest houses across Pakistan. Mr Malik also wanted to know the rent collectedfrom there.
Unfortunately though in the midst of such short-sighted questions placed on the floor, there were important ones which were deferred, such as the one by PMLN MNA from Kasur, Wasim Akhter Sheikh who had asked the minister of interior about the state of public transport particularly buses and minibuses plying in Islamabad. Mr Sheikh also asked whether the capital administration and its concerned authorities have failed to adjudicate the fitness of such public transport in order to ensure the safety of passengers. A reply to his queries is still pending.