KP Assembly Session adjourned for lack of quorum

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly session was adjourned amid rumpus on Friday due to lack of quorum as the opposition protested the disinterest of the treasury benches in the proceedings of the House.
After recitation from the Holy Quran, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) Mehmood Khan Bhittani raised the issue of the absence of treasury members. He said though the assembly session started one hour late, even then the ministers and advisors remained absent.
He said the ministers, advisors or special assistants, who had to reply to the points on the agenda, were not present in the assembly that showed the non-seriousness of the government.
Another JUI-F MPA, Malik Riaz, told the House that no action was taken on a privilege motion he had presented 40 days ago. He added the speaker had given a ruling about the suspension of the station house officer (SHO) of the Mandan Police Station in Bannu.
The lawmaker said the inspector general of police (IGP) didn’t suspend SHO Amanullah, who was still performing duty. He said it the breach of privilege of the House. He maintained that he submitted another privilege motion on November 17 against the IGP, but that was also missing from the agenda. He said the IGP was a government servant, not a ruler.
The legislator added that the police chief breached the privilege of the House and trampled the ruling of the speaker. Malik Riaz walked out of the House in protest.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Mehmood Jan also raised the issue of suspension of the SHO of the Mathra Police Station in rural Peshawar. He said he had brought a privilege motion that was referred to the privilege committee and the speaker had given a ruling about the suspension and inquiry against the relevant police officer, but the SHO was restored before the decision of the committee.
Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) parliamentary leader in the provincial assembly Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha also criticised the treasury benches for their non-seriousness. He said the PTI should quit the government if it couldn’t run it.
He said millions of rupees were being spent on the assembly sessions, but the treasury members didn’t take its proceedings seriously.
Arif Ahmadzai, who presided over the session, asked Advisor to Chief Minister Mushtaq Ghani to inform the House as to why ministers and treasury members were not taking the assembly session seriously.
PTI female MPA Deena Naz pointed out to the quorum amid the heated debate. The speaker ordered the ringing of the bell for two minutes. However, the treasury members who were present in the House also left their seats.
At this, the opposition members started shouting the slogans of “Go Imran go” and the speaker adjourned the session for Monday. Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party MPA Nighat Orakzai announced quitting the standing committees in protest.
“I am the member of three standing committees i.e. Home and Tribal Affairs, Communication and Works and another committee, the name of which I don’t remember. I am no longer the member of these panels due to the indifferent attitude of the government,” she told reporters.