Of ringing bells, incomplete quorum and lazy MPAs

LAHORE, (NNI): The lawmakers in the Punjab Assembly have made a habit of themselves by totally ignoring the decorum and dignity of the House during the last many days.

Ever since the ongoing session started on Monday last, the MPAs were least interested to display some respect for the assembly for which they have spent millions to get elected a member of.

It was not about minutes but for hours they go deaf as the bells rang, calling them to the floor for kicking off the proceedings; but the respectable legislators not bothered to respect the assembly and complete the quorum.

On Thursday, the film was the same, so do the actors. As usual, even after passage of two hours the assembly session could not be set into motion. The bells continued to ring but the MPAs stayed away.

On Monday last, Opposition leaders Ahmed Bhachhar, Rana Aftab and others had raised the issue of alleged rigging during the by-polls held on April 21. The session was started after three hours delay. On intervention by the treasury members, the opposition members got annoyed and pointed out that the house lacked the presence of the minimum 94 MPAs at any given time.

The chair put off the proceedings for five minutes and when the required strength could not be ensured in the House, the break was extended by half an hour, and later the proceedings were adjourned for Tuesday morning. However, Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan later changed the time to 3pm, but the story was the same on that day too.

Even in the next session, the ‘delaying virus’ was rampant as proceedings of the session started after around three-hour delay from its scheduled time. The opposi¬tion again pointed out a lack of quorum. Deputy Speaker Zaheer Iqbal Chant¬er adjourned the House for 30 minutes, but the Treasury failed to complete the quorum. The deputy speaker adjourned the sitting.