The National Assembly sitting on Saturday, summoned two days earlier than scheduled by the Leader of the House Shaukat Aziz himself, started late by full one hour and lasted not more than half an hour - thanks to the treasury benches' persistent absence.
It didn't have the quorum at the time it was called to order and had to be adjourned till next Tuesday as the government failed to muster the necessary quorum. But during that short interregnum, two statements on point-of-order merit mention, for they help figure out the Byzantine dimension of our national politics.
Opposition's Aitzaz Ahsan was the first to speak. "Mr Speaker, I am sure you know that a speech is being written on facts about our conduct. That the House went out of quorum for 333 times, that it was a parliament which met three days a week but members' were paid for full week, that even in those three days it could not muster quorum".
That speech will also talk about the perennial absence of ministers, Aitzaz fantasised, telling Speaker Amir Hussain "If even then you don't realise the gravity of the situation I feel envious of you. If the government does not have the business to transact why don't you take up the opposition's agenda", he asked.
"The speech will be delivered on the national television, and people will readily agree - yes, the parliament did nothing. Your nemesis is not too far. The system will be completely changed. I beseech you, work for the rest of the four days of the week also because you are being paid for that. If you don't have the agenda, take up our agenda. Hundreds of our motions are with you", Aitzaz Ahsan told the dumbfounded chair and meekly quiet treasury benches.
It was a soul stirring speech. But what shook the House out of its stupor was a very short but telling remark by government lady member from Balochistan, Khurshid Afghan.
Employing innuendoes, she tried to tell the House that lack of quorum became a persistent phenomenon ever since Shaukat Aziz took over as the Prime Minister. Who is being punished and why, she said, adding that if the President took an action as alluded to by Aitzaz Ahsan "that would be justifiable". M.P. Bhandara, however, rejected Aitzaz Ahsan's thesis asserting that quorum should be no issue.
There are a number of parliaments where much smaller quorum is required, for instance in House of Commons presence of a single member is good enough to keep the house going. In India's Lok Sabha one-tenth of the strength constitutes the quorum. But Speaker Amir Hussain did not agree with him because "for the present our quorum requirement is one-fifth".
At this point PPPP's Raja Pervaiz Ashraf pointed out that the House did not have the quorum. The Speaker ordered bells be rung but even then the attendance including both sides of the aisle was 78. At that the Speaker adjourned the House to meet on Tuesday evening.
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