ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) session was adjourned on Friday due to lack of quorum just one day after the government passed a landmark bill regarding the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
During the day’s proceedings, two calling attention notices were tabled in the lower house of the parliament, after which NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq intended to allow parliamentarians to speak about the bill passed on Thursday.
When Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) member Naseema Hafeez Panezai pointed out lack of quorum, the speaker advised her to refrain from doing so in order to give the members a chance to discuss the issue.
Panezai remarked that the house was brimming with lawmakers when the bill was passed on Thursday but could not maintain quorum on Friday. She did not pay heed to the speaker’s request and stuck to her guns. This led to a headcount, after which the quorum was found breached. Due to this, the sitting of the assembly was adjourned until Monday.
Earlier, Awami National Party’s (ANP) Ghulam Ahmad Bilour praised the house for adopting the constitutional amendment to enable the merger of the tribal areas with KP. “Pakhtuns living in the tribal belt have been deprived of their fundamental rights since the past 70 years. The house deserves praise for passing the amendment,” he said.
Meanwhile, a calling attention notice was moved by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) lawmaker Jamal-ud-Din pertaining to non-implementation of the Petroleum Exploration and Production Policy 2012. In response, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmed said that oil and gas companies were heavily invested in carrying out welfare projects in those areas which were being explored for natural resources.
He also said that most of these companies also recruited local people in non-technical fields.
Another calling attention notice was moved by Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) lawmaker Sheikh Salahiddin pertaining to nonpayment of salaries to the employees of the Telephone Industries of Pakistan (TIP). Responding to the notice, Minister for Information, Technology, and Telecommunication Anusha Rehman said that the outgoing government had taken many steps to bring reforms in TIP.
She said that massive corruption had been carried out by the employees of TIP, including the involvement of officials giving electricity connection to a private housing society from an official connection.
The minister claimed that this illegal connection cost the government Rs11 million. “When action was taken over this matter, the bill was drastically cut down to Rs15,000 to Rs30,000,” she added.
She also said that officials and employees of TIP had filed 86 cases against the government, adding that cases against TIP officials have been forwarded to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).