NA proceedings adjourned due to lack of quorum

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly proceedings which resumed on Monday afternoon after a break of two days were adjourned due to lack of quorum without execution of any business.

Khawaja Sohail Mansoor of the MQM pointed out the lack quorum in the House after Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq did not allow him to speak on a point of order. The chair suspended proceedings for over 30 minutes and later adjourned till Tuesday morning seeing presence of insufficient strength of members.

The NA speaker told the MQM member that he would be given the floor on the completion of the Question Hour. However, Khawaja Sohail Mansoor said he would point out lack of quorum as a protest.

At the outset, the House offered fateha for the departed souls of three children, who were martyred in unprovoked firing by Indian troops across the Working boundary in Sialkot, and Pakistani student Sabikha Shakih, who was martyred in a firing incident inside a school of Texas, the United States.

The House was to take up three bills for passage, including the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (Amendment) Bill, 2018, to amend the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess Act, 2015; the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils (Amendment Bill, 2018, to amend the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973, and the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Bill, 2018, to amend to prevent and combat trafficking in persons especially women and children.