It is not a new occurrence that President Mamnoon Hussain addressed rows of empty seats at the joint session of parliament on Thursday. It has been pointed out that had it struck anyone that a quorum was not present, the session would have been suspended and the president would have had to wait for one fourth of the members to arrive before beginning his annual presidential address. The assemblies regularly have low attendance, and legislators on post-session interviewing are often clueless about what was discussed and what bill was passed.
In the past, the same Presidential address has been livelier, especially in the time of General Pervez Musharraf. However, if legislators attended sessions because they felt a responsibility to do so, rather than just in times of political drama, constituents would feel more confident in their abilities. This was an important speech... or should have been. One can blame the legislators for their callous disregard of parliamentary decorum, or the President for his continued lacklustre performance. Out of four provincial chief ministers only Dr Abdul Malik of Balochistan was present, the rest were missing. The CMs of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were present in Islamabad, giving preference to the inauguration ceremony of the metro bus service. (However, all provincial governors were present, with the exception of Dr Ishratul Ebad).
Here is what a typical session looks like (based on the March 25, 2015 session), give or take a few members and minutes. The National Assembly meets for about two hours, and usually later than scheduled. The Prime Minister is absent. The Opposition Leader is present for about an hour. 49 lawmakers (14%) are present at the start and 45 (13%) at the end of the sitting. A maximum of 130 members (38%) attended the sitting. Six minority members attended the sitting. Eleven members applied for leave. In the current example, with 38% attendance, the House passed the Credit Bureaus Bill 2015 and the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils (Amendment) Bill 2014. In the same month the House passed the Seed (Amendment) Bill with 36% attendance. Five bills were introduced, including the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, the Hindu Marriage Bill and the Banks Nationalisation (Amendment) Bill. How many more Bills will be passed without a majority of legislators present? Are these bills and discussions really not of any relevance to the hundreds of missing parliamentarians? And even the figures of 38% and 36% are of total attendance, not considering that many representatives come late or leave early. At one point in time attendance is only about 20%. These men and women with such dismal levels of responsible behaviour fail to realise that they can’t represent their people if they aren’t present.