The much-awaited 31st session of the Punjab Assembly that cost the provincial kitty around Rs 12 million was adjourned sine die on Friday after 20 minutes owing to legislators’ indifference to the House business.
Ironically, the opposition lawmakers who submitted the requisition to convene the session to discuss the dengue outbreak in the province and evaluate the government’s performance in controlling the disastrous effects, remained absent from the House and the session which commenced with Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal in the chair, was initially adjourned for 30 minutes due to a lack of quorum. However, the session had to be adjourned when members showed little interest in taking part in the assembly business.
Another intriguing aspect of the Friday’s session was that both the treasury and opposition lawmakers remained busy during the short period of session in political point-scoring to garner praise of their party high ups. The final touch to the drama was given by treasury member Ali Asghar Munda, who pointed out the lack of quorum and the House was adjourned for 30 minutes and later adjourned sine die for lack of quorum.
The agenda of the day, which included question period on Auqaf Department and general discussion on dengue, could not be discussed. The Punjab Assembly, which is supposed to meet for 100 days in a parliamentary year, has so far met for 32 days in the ongoing fourth parliamentary year. Soon after the session started, opposition legislator Nargis Faiz criticised authorities for their failure to act against molestation of a four-year-old girl in Rawalpindi.
But the House witnessed a rumpus when Nargis Awan passed derogatory remarks against the PML-N leadership, forcing PML-N legislator Dr Ghazala Rana and Abdul Ghafoor to protest, turning the House into a fish market. Opposition Leader Raja Raiz said they had convened the session to discuss important issues, but treasury members had showed apathy towards the issues. Protesting against the deplorable attitude, the opposition staged a walkout from the House.