The government is all set to hold marathon sessions of the National Assembly to meet mandatory requirement of 56 sittings in two-and-a-half-month before the end of the parliamentary year on November 15.
After passage of the budget in June, the Lower House of the Parliament could not meet for a single day for reasons best known to the powers that be. Therefore, July went session-less.
"Yes, it will be a tricky job to ensure sittings for 56 days, as since the new parliamentary year started, the House could hold business for just 74 days," a senior official at the National Assembly Secretariat said on Tuesday.
The treasury members have been showing least interest in the proceedings for some months and this could land the government in difficulty in holding smooth sittings during the remaining period of the parliamentary year.
It was perhaps for the first time that a summoned session of the Senate was called off less than 24 hours before its first day's proceedings last month without assigning any reason.
Though, the opposition saw in it the government's frustration to face the opposition with country facing key issues such as triple train accident, US missile attack close to Pak-Afghan border and price hike.
When contacted, an official at the National Assembly Secretariat told Business Recorder that they had no information whether or not a session would be summoned in August.
He agreed that the government would have to ensure minimum 86 members' presence each day to avoid embarrassment, as the opposition would be on the look to point out lack of quorum.
When the government calls a session, it has to ensure 86 members, while if the opposition requisitions the session, it is their responsibility to gather the same number of members in the House.
As per the constitutional requirements, the Lower House has to meet for at least 130 days in a parliamentary year. The present assembly was sworn in on November 16, 2002. Hence, each year, the House starts its parliamentary year on the same date and its period ends a day before.
Insiders believed that the main reason why the government was not interested in summoning the Senate or assembly session was that its ministers and lawmakers were grossly engaged in campaigns for their near and dear-ones to ensure their berth in the local bodies' elections. Combined opposition despite having got signatures of as many as 28 senators shelved the plan to file a requisition for the Senate session, owing to unavailability of members to ensure minimum 25 members' presence in the House.
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