NA completes 130 mandatory days in parliamentary year

ISLAMABAD: The last session of the third parliamentary year of the sitting National Assembly was prorogued on Thursday after passing a motion, expressing its gratitude to the president of Pakistan for addressing the joint sitting of the parliament on Aug 20, last year.

The National Assembly had been in session since July 30 after Eidul Azha break, only to complete 130 mandatory days in a parliamentary year. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) parliamentarian Dr Nafeesa Shah, raising a question of privilege, regretted that the FIA was being used for political victimisation of the government opponents.

She said she, along with five other party MNAs and three Sindh ministers, came to know only on television channels that they had been served notices by the FIA on charges of bringing into disrepute the superior judiciary.

Towards end of the parliamentary year, the proceedings averted lack of quorum when the aviation minister was laying before the National Assembly the Pakistan Civil Aviation Ordinance, 2021 (Ordinance No Xlll of 2077) as required by clause (2) of Article 89 of the Constitution of Pakistan.

Advisor on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan told the House during Question Hour that hundreds of thousands of people, who were not entitled to the assistance, have been removed from the social sector programme.

The advisor told the House that 3,049 jobs were provided to people belonging to Balochistan in different government departments over the last three years. He said the Balochistan and Sindh governments will be asked to identify the employees who got jobs in the federal departments on fake domiciles. He promised that action would be taken against those employees with the cooperation of provinces.