LAHORE: The 32nd session of the Punjab Assembly (PA), held on Thursday, has been a cause of embarrassment for the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), as most queries put forward by lawmakers during the assembly’s question-answer session failed to receive satisfactory answers from the quarters concerned.
According to the details, only two out of 22 questions related to the colonies department, could be answered by the Parliamentary Secretary Chaudhry Zahid Akram during the question-hour session as the department concerned did not bother to send answers for the remaining questions.
The irresponsible behavior of the department concerned forced the opposition parties to stage a protest inside the provincial assembly, due to which the treasury could not complete the remaining agenda of the day due to the lack of quorum, that was pointed out by an independent lawmaker Ehsan Riaz Fatyana, amid protests from the opposition.
Speaking on a point of order, the PA opposition leader Mian Mehmood-ur-Rashid said that it was not acceptable that only two out of 22 questions could be answered by the persons concerned, adding that it was an insult of the respectable lawmakers who were actually working for the betterment of the people.
The opposition leader said that, “The government is not serious in running the affairs of the house as the queries of parliamentarians are not addressed by the relevant departments. Most of the times we do not get answers and in case we are lucky and a query is actually addressed by the officials concerned, the answers are mostly unsatisfactory.”
He further added that the Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who was also leader of the house, should come to the house at least once during every session, as his participation would make other lawmakers and departments more vigilant and they would show seriousness in the proceedings of the house.
It is pertinent to mention here that due to lack of quorum inside the house, the treasury could not take up the government business, including the general discussion on price control mechanism and discussion on annual report of the Punjab Commission on the Status of Women for the year 2016.
Earlier on Wednesday, it was decided by the PA Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal that there would be a general discussion in the house on the federal regulatory duty as the opposition leader had protested over the issue on the same day, while also wanting to move an out-of-turn resolution on the issue, but was not allowed to do so by the speaker. The opposition leader was of the view that the regulatory duty would further increase the price of edible items that were already beyond the reach of the common man.
Minister for Industries, Commerce and Investment Sheikh Allaudin responded to the opposition leader’s concerns and said that the issue should be debated in the house, after which the speaker allocated one hour for holding a general discussion over the issue. Unfortunately, the discussion failed to take place due to the lack of quorum, that had been a recurring sight in the PA since the last four years. Later it was informed that the PA session would resume on Friday morning.