ISLAMABAD - In a rare precedent, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Friday requested a member not to point out the quorum issue as he was interested in running the National Assembly proceedings and take point of orders.
Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) member Naseema Hafeez Panezai, however, did not pay heed to the request of the chair and blocked the proceedings to discuss the Fata mainstreaming issue.
Panezai, a government’s allied party member, rushed to point out lack of strength in the house when the chair opened the floor to discuss the recently passed ‘Fata Reforms Bill, 2018’.
Awami National Party’s Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour had just grabbed the floor to start his speech on Fata mainstream, when he was stopped by the chair as the PkMAP MNA wanted to point out the quorum issue in the house.
The chair, before giving the floor, requested Panezai not to point out the quorum in the house. “These are the last days of the National Assembly (14th National Assembly) and the members want to speak on different issues, so I request you not to point out the quorum,” said Speaker Ayaz Sadiq.
The PkMAP member who seemed not interested in the speeches on the Fata mainstreaming turned a deaf ear on the speaker’s request. “Where are the members as yesterday (Thursday) the house was full to pass the Fata bill,” she said and pointed out lack of strength in the house.
The chair suspended the house as around 80 members were present in the house. The 342-member house requires at least 86 MNAs to run the proceedings. The house resumed after 10 minutes and the chair adjourned the proceeding for lack of quorum. The PkMAP Thursday strongly opposed the Fata merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
This was the second time in the current session (56th session) when a treasury benches member made an attempt to disrupt the proceedings (by pointing out quorum) about the Fata issue. Earlier, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shaikh Aftab Ahmed said oil and gas companies were responsible for carrying out welfare projects in the areas of exploration.
The minister, responding to a call-attention notice, said companies have their own policies regarding provision of jobs to local people. He said the companies recruit local people in non-technical fields.
Minister for Information and Technology Anusha Rahman, responding to a call-attention notice regarding nonpayment of salaries to the employees of Telephone Industries of Pakistan (TIP), said there was much corruption in the TIP department. “This institution has ruined itself and set an example of corruption. Efforts have been made to reform it,” she said and assured the members the TIP was not privatised with the privatisation of PTCL.