The 28th session of Punjab Assembly was prorogued for an indefinite time period without a single legislation, on Friday, after remaining in progress for just five days. The session that started on Monday witnessed a massive protest and agitation from the opposition benches over the issue of Panama verdict while demanding the resignation of Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif.
The opposition parties led by the leader of the opposition Mian Mahmood ur Rashid wanted to table a resolution against the PM to urge him to resign from his office till the investigation of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), constituted by the apex court, was complete, but he was not allowed to do so. This prompted the opposition to stage protests that continued for four consecutive days. The opposition also frustrated the treasury by pointing out the quorum repeatedly, but the government struggled to maintain the minimum required quorum.
Pakistan Today talked to some of the opposition members and who termed the prorogation of the house for an indefinite time period a ‘foul play’ from the government’s side in order to avoid the ongoing protest of the opposition in the house over the Panama issue.
Parliamentary leader of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Qazi Ahmed Saeed told Pakistan Today that the government prorogued the session because of the protest from the joint opposition. “It is my third tenure in the Punjab Assembly and it is the only example of my parliamentary career that the session could last only five days,” he said. He was of the view that the government includes weekends as working days of the Punjab Assembly to complete the 100 days that are required for the assembly to be in progress in one parliamentary year.
As there is a public holiday on the coming Monday, for Labor Day, the government could not summon the session that day and decided to prorogue it for the indefinite time period, he added. “It will also help them avoid the ongoing storm in the Punjab Assembly over the issue of Panama verdict,” the parliamentary leader of the PPP said.
Mian Aslam Iqbal, a lawmaker of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI), told this scribe that they were not expecting the prorogation of the house just after five days. “I have learnt that the Prime Minister is going to resign and therefore the government decided to prorogue the session as listening the news of the resignation of their leader during the session would have been a sheer embarrassment for the parliamentarians of PML-N,” he added.
On Friday, answers related to the primary and secondary healthcare were given during the question-hour session and the performance of newly appointed parliamentary secretary was extremely unsatisfactory as he was unable to answer most of the questions and kept seeking assistance from the staff of the department present there.
