• Besides ministers, speaker and his deputy skip sitting
• Treasury members, mostly from Sindh, again call for reviewing 18th Constitution Amendment
• Six private member’s bills introduced

ISLAMABAD: ‘High-level’ absenteeism marred the private day business of the National Assembly on Tuesday, forcing the chair to defer the legislative agenda.

Not only ministers, but NA Speaker Asad Qaiser and Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri were also not present on the session.

The proceedings were eventually presided over PTI MNA from Mianwali, Amjid Ali Khan, who provided ample time to the members to raise issues of their constituencies while speaking on points of order.

Taking advantage of this generosity from the chair, 48 lawmakers spoke during the nearly five-hour long lacklustre proceedings. While raising issues of their constituencies, a number of treasury members, mostly from Sindh, once again called for reviewing the 18th Constitution Amendment.

“Since the ministers are not present, the legislative agenda is being deferred,” declared Mr Khan when some opposition members protested over his act of skipping the legislative agenda comprising seven bills which had already been passed either by the Senate or the relevant house committees.

The house, however, saw introduction of six private member’s bills which were not opposed by the government.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan remained present throughout the proceedings and responded to most of the issues and questions raised by the members.

Science and Technology Minister Shibli Faraz attended the sitting for a brief time and left the house after opposing a private member’s bill that sought establishment of a regulatory body for registration of contractors working on various development projects and overseeing their work.

A discussion on the bill that had been submitted by PTI’s Uzma Riaz was deferred by the chair when the minister consistently opposed it, terming the proposed regulatory body unnecessary in the presence of the Pakistan Engineering Council.

The issue of the absence of ministers was raised by a number of opposition members. Besides the chairman, the minister of state for parliamentary affairs also endorsed the opposition members’ concerns.

When at one stage Mr Khan gave a ruling that the ministers should be present in the house on the private member’s day, the parliamentary affairs minister said he would ensure their presence in future.

The chair said the ministers should be present as there was no weekly meeting of the federal cabinet on Tuesday.

The issue had been forcefully raised by Shahida Akhtar Ali of the JUI-F and Syed Naveed Qamar of the PPP.

Objecting to Parliamentary Secretary for Commerce Alia Hamza for responding to their calling attention notice on increase in prices of food essentials in Utility Stores, Mr Qamar said the ministers should at least be present in the house to give a response on regular agenda items on the orders of the day.

When some of the PTI members, mostly from Karachi, tried to raise the issues of water shortage and poor municipal services in the city, the chair stopped them from doing so, saying they were provincial subjects under the 18th Amendment.

PTI’s Aftab Jehangir regretted that whenever they attempted to talk about public issues, this 18th Amendment became a hurdle. Asma Qadeer of the PTI called for repealing the amendment.

Even Ali Mohammad Khan endorsed their viewpoint, saying: “Laws are [made] for the people and not people for the laws.” He said that while the 18th Amendment had some advantages, it also had many disadvantages.

Aliya Hamza, while speaking on a point of order harshly criticised the national media for allegedly publishing and telecasting “fake news” and maligning the country and state institutions. She particularly mentioned the recent interview of TV anchor Hamid Mir with BBC and accused him of “maligning the country’s institutions and trying to insult the government of Pakistan”.

Ms Hamza alleged that Mr Mir had damaged the country’s image in the name of freedom of expression and freedom of speech. She called for action against him and sending the matter to the information committee of the house. She said there were a few “black sheep” among the journalists and media outlets “who make headlines and do editorials on the basis of fake news”.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2021