Absence of concerned ministers: Parliament’s joint sitting adjourned for two weeks

ISLAMABAD: The joint sitting of parliament was proved an exercise in futility as it was adjourned on Tuesday for two weeks due to the absence of concerned ministers without holding any debate on a myriad of issues – which were supposed to be taken up in the joint sitting – especially the recent spike in terror attacks in the country and talks with outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The National Assembly Speaker, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, who presided over the joint sitting, had to face tough questions from the lawmakers belonging to different parties after they found out that not a single minister was present in the joint sitting.

The speaker said that “the concerned minister must ensure his presence in the house to respond to the questions of the members”, adding “since no minister is present today so the joint session is adjourned till February 28”.

The chief whip of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Saad Waseem, said that “since an important meeting of the federal cabinet was supposed to take place at 6pm, due to which the ministers could not come to the joint sitting”.

Speaking on a point of order, Sardar Riaz Mehmood Khan Mazari, a dissident of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), demanded to abolish the powers of political party heads to strengthen the democracy both inside and outside the party.

He said that the draconian laws which empower the heads of the political parties should be abolished through legislation as the unbridled powers are the reason the heads of the political parties act like dictators.

He said that “unless and until the powers of the party heads are not eliminated, the issues of the people would not be solved”.

“We are the representatives of the people and we come here to raise the issues of our people. We are not here to flatter the party leader”, he regretted, while referring to the political parties which are in fact extensions of powerful families with hereditary leadership.

He said that a party leader calls the shot and the elected representatives of the people could not do anything in front of their respective party heads which is the reason, there is no democracy in the country.

Senator Anwar ul Haq Kakar said that an in-camera session and briefing from the top intelligence officials are no solution to the issues confronting the country as “we had seen such futile exercise in the past as well”.

He called for practical measures to root out the menace of terrorism, instead of holding futile in-camera sessions and then ending up doing nothing to purge the country of militancy and terrorism. He continued that it is clear that terrorism is a complicated and most likely multi-faceted issue, adding in some parts of the country a particular ethnic group is targeted while in some parts of the country, religion is made a basis for terrorism and militancy.

Kakar proposed that a committee of lawmakers, experts, and academia should be formed to eradicate the menace of terrorism in the country.

Meanwhile, the NA speaker, after taking a sense of the house, announced the donation of one-month salary of all the members of parliament for earthquake victims of Turkiye and Syria.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023