NA proceedings suspended after Opposition points out lack of qourum

ISLAMABAD   –   The Opposition in Friday’s National Assembly peacefully disrupted the proceedings by pointing out lack of required strength in the House. Unlike its previous policy to create heavy rumpus in the house, the Opposition managed to suspend the House without proceedings.  PPP-P’s senior lawmaker Naveed Qamar said that they would prefer to walkout proceedings of the house in the current political scenario.  “There is no sanctity of the Parliament.We prefer to stay outside the house…In this way equal representation of Parliament from both sides can not be possible,” he said and left the House in protest with the entire opposition except PML-N’s Shiekh Fayaz. Adviser on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan, responding to Opposition members, said the proceedings of the House can only be conducted as per the rules and regulations and the directions of the chair. He regretted the conduct of opposition parties in the National Assembly. “Objectively the opinion of the Opposition member is correct, but respect of the custodian of the house is imperative,” he said, mentioning that the chair had given sufficient time to the opposition on all the matters in the house. PML-N’s Sheikh Fiayazuddin, soon after the point of order of Babar Awan, rushed to take the floor and pointed out lack of required quorum in the House. The quorum was pointed out when around 50 MNAs were present in the house. The chair preferred to adjourn the proceedings of the house. Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser said it is the collective responsibility of the Treasury and Opposition benches to respect the decorum of the house. “I have always given equal opportunities to the Treasury and Opposition benches to express their views,” he said, mentioning that he had conducted detailed discussions on different matters in the house.  The house in one week twice adjourned without proceedings due to lack of required strength in the House.