Accountability ord extended amid protest

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Friday allowed extension in the National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 for another 120 days amid protest and voices of lack of quorum from the opposition parties.

Speaker Asad Qaisar allowed Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan to move a resolution to seek permission of the National Assembly for extension in the National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 while ignoring the question of quorum being raised by an opposition member.

PPP Parliamentarian Agha Rafiullah was pointing out lack of quorum in the House but no heed was paid to his request and permission of the assembly was taken for extension in the period of the ordinance for 120 days with effect from June 9.

President Arif Alvi promulgated the National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 which allowed extension in tenure of the prosecutor general Accountability for three years. The ordinance amends Section 8(a) (iii) of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999. The NAO 1999 does not permit extension or re-appointment of the prosecutor general Accountability.

PML-N Parliamentarian Murtaza Javed Abbasi while speaking on a point of order regretted the attitude of the speaker for not allowing counting once the question of lack of quorum was raised.

Speaker Asad Qaisar insisted that the opposition member just raised a point of order and did not point out lack of quorum in the House. He said the statement of Murtaza Javed Abbasi was not correct.

Earlier, PPP member Syed Naveed Qamar objected to placing the resolution for extension in period of the accountability ordinance on order of the day. He said the speaker himself had made a commitment that the opposition would be given prior information before taking up any important legislation in the House. However, the veteran opposition member fell short of convincing the chair.

PML-N Parliamentarian Ahsan Iqbal while speaking on a point of order said the Punjab government is ignoring the verdict of the Supreme Court given on March 25 for restoration of elected representatives of local governments in the province. He said it happened for the first time that a government showed disrespect to directives of the apex court for over two months.

Ahsan Iqbal was of the view that both the prime minister and the Punjab chief minister could be removed from their positions on charges of contempt of court.

Earlier, the proceedings of the National Assembly were suspended for over an hour due to lack of quorum. Shaikh Fiazuddin of the PML-N while pointing out lack of quorum said he is feeling ashamed to see empty front row’s seats of the government benches. The speaker read the presidential orders to prorogue the National Assembly session on Friday.