ISLAMABAD - Despite the fact that ‘Question Hour’ of the National Assembly is usually a tricky moment for treasury benches as ministers have to face thorny questions from opposition, the fun-loving lawmakers on both sides of the aisle turned the moment into ‘hour of joke’.
Although there were some serious questions relating to the oil and gas sector in the country, lawmakers were observed putting silly questions before the ministers only to get answers, which made the lawmakers to laugh loudly in the house.
The thin presence of lawmakers on treasury benches particularly the unavailability of ministers to answer questions also perturbed opposition on Wednesday and at one point the total strength of house was pointed by Sheikh Rashid to be less than 20 out of the 342 members’ National Assembly.
But when MNA Ijaz Hussain Jhakrani of PPP asked Deputy Speaker Javed Murtaza as to what was the utility of keeping such hefty cabinet when no minister was available to answer the queries, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab intervened and said, “How can you say that we have a hefty cabinet? Look there are a few ministers in the house,” the reply made the house to laugh with some members continuing to chuckle for quite along time.
And then the rest of lawmakers who were supposed to ask serious questions started to amuse the thin presence of lawmakers by putting questions that could trigger them to giggle.
When Deputy Speaker Murtaza gave floor to MNA Naeema Kishwar of JUI-F, she forgot the question she was supposed to ask arguing the boisterous conversation in the house diverted her attention from the question.
At another point during the Question Hour, more than 20 questioners in the house were announced by Deputy Speaker to be absent from the house. “No problem if they are absent because there is nobody (ministers concerned) to answer them,” said MNA Sheikh Rashid, a ripple of laughter once again circled the hall.
To another question that what was the reason behind low gas pressure in different parts of the country, Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (the only minister available in the house) replied that some consumers used suction machines that deprived tail end consumers of gas pressure. “If your house is located on tail end, you have to bear low gas pressure. Better you construct house on area where you are first to receive gas supply,” the minister gave reply to MNA Tahira Aurangzeb thus again unleashing laughter in the house.
As the MNAs took more interest in asking irrelevant questions, there came a moment when most of the lawmakers skipped asking the original questions focusing more on supplementary questions in order to let the laughter bubble up in members.
This was perhaps the reason that majority of PTI lawmakers followed Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to his chamber at the end of Question Hour in order to get replies of questions they failed to ask on floor of the house.
PTI MNAs, including Ali Muhammad Khan, Dr Imran Khattak, Engr Hamidul Haq Khalil, Sajid Nawaz Sheharyar Afridi, Khial Zaman, Murad Saeed and Qaiser Jamal were observed chasing the minister to his chamber in order to discuss with him the problems their respective voters were faced with.
Earlier in the house, the minister for petroleum revealed that one district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was involved in gas theft worth Rs6 billion, adding the chief minister KP had candidly told the federal government that he cannot take action against the theft.
About Peshawar-Karakuram Highway project, a lawmaker wanted to know about the cost of the project and that whether the venture would be materialised in wake of the blame game between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“We know President Ashraf Ghani is angry but he will be OK very soon. Once former Indian premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee was angry with Pakistan but then we saw him in Lahore with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,” Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab replied to the question, saying Premier Sharif was good in making reconciliation with estranged friends.
The house again giggled as some members interpreted Mr Aftab reply as making reference to PTI lawmakers who are part of the same house they had dubbed it as fake during Imran Khan’s anti-government agitation last year.