ISLAMABAD: The protest walkout from the National Assembly by members of the joint opposition over the government’s reliance on presidential ordinances for legislation marred the opening day proceedings of the lower house of parliament as Speaker Asad Qaiser adjourned the sitting within minutes without taking up any agenda item after finding the house not in order due to lack of quorum.

The speaker announced adjournment of the session till Friday after he was informed by the assembly staff that the house lacked quorum. It was pointed out by Syed Naveed Qamar of the Pakistan Peoples Party before leading the opposition’s walkout from the house.

No agenda item could be taken up because of lack of quorum

Mr Qamar lashed out at the government over the prevailing energy crisis in the country due to gas shortage, alleging that the government had no realisation of the difficulties being faced by the people.

Pointing towards the assembly agenda, the PPP lawmaker said the government had become insensitive to the issue. It was evident from the fact that even a treasury member had raised the gas shortage issue through a call attention notice, he added.

A call-attention notice submitted by Faheem Khan, a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MNA from Karachi, over the issue of low gas pressure and non-provision of gas to the people of Karachi was the first item on Orders of the Day.

Besides this, a call-attention notice of the opposition PML-N members on the issue of unprecedented increase in circular debt during the tenure of the incumbent government was also part of the NA agenda.

“As per agenda, the government is seeking extension in the life of eight ordinances on a single day. This is an insult to parliament and it shows that parliament is not functioning,” said the PPP MNA while speaking on a point of order when the speaker announced opening of the Question Hour.

Mr Qamar said it seemed that the only task for the parliament was to give extension to the ordinances.

“We cannot become a part of such things. We cannot become a part of such governance. We protest, stage a walkout and point out quorum,” declared Mr Qamar before leaving his seat to lead the opposition members in the walkout.

The 33-point agenda issued by the National Assembly secretariat for Wednesday’s sitting contained resolutions seeking extension of another 120 days in the life of six already promulgated ordinances.

Sources said the government had also planned to present a mini-budget involving fiscal adjustments and expenditure cuts worth about Rs600 billion as part of an understanding with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during the ongoing session, but it had delayed the move for the time being.

Opposition parties have already announced that they will not let the government get approval for the mini-budget from parliament.

Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif had earlier declared that passing the PTI government’s mini-budget would be like committing ‘national suicide’.

He had stated that a collective strategy would be devised through a consensus by the joint opposition to block and reject this mini-budget because it jeopardised the country’s sovereignty.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2021