PkMAP obstructs NA proceedings

ISLAMABAD: The Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Friday took sweet revenge of passage of a constitution amendment bill related to Fata’s merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by pointing out lack of quorum to block the National Assembly proceedings.

Naseema Panezai of PKMAP, an allied party of the incumbent government, pointed out lack of quorum in the House when Ghulam Ahmad Khan Bilour had just taken the floor to speak on streamlining of the Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata) and Provincially Administered Tribal Area (Pata).

The chair, before giving the floor, requested Panezai not to point out lack of quorum.

“These are last days of the National Assembly (14th National Assembly) and the members want to speak on different issues, so I request you not to point out quorum,” Ayaz Sadiq said. Panezai, however, turned a deaf ear to his request. “Where are the members, as yesterday the house was full to pass the Fata bill,” she said and pointed out lack of quorum in the House. The chair suspended the proceedings when less than 80 members were present in the house whereas 86 parliamentarians are required to complete quorum. The House resumed after 10 minutes but the chair adjourned the proceedings due to lack of quorum after recounting.

Earlier, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmed told the House that the oil and gas companies were responsible for carrying out welfare projects in the areas of exploration. Responding to a call-attention notice, he said companies had their own policies for provision of jobs to the local people.

He said companies recruit local people in non-technical fields. Responding to call-attention notice regarding non-payment of salaries to the employees of Telephone Industries of Pakistan (TIP), Minister for Information Technology Anusha Rahman said there was much corruption in the TIP. “This institution has ruined itself and set an example of corruption,” she said.

She said efforts had been made to introduce reforms in the TIP and made it clear that the department had not been privatised with the privatisation of PTCL.