Deputy Speaker National Assembly Qasim Khan Suri on Friday adjourned proceedings till Monday evening after a lawmaker pointed out lack of quorum shortly after the session started, leading to protest by the opposition. Agha Hassan of Balochistan National Party-Mengal pointed out lack of quorum just a few minutes after the session started.
The Deputy Speaker subsequently ordered a head count and then adjourned the session till Monday evening after finding that the quorum was not complete.
Under the rules, the presence of one-fourth of the members (86) of the 342-member House is required to maintain quorum. It may be noted here that BNP-Mengal is a coalition partner of the PTI-led government and quorum is usually pointed out by the opposition parties' members, not the government or its coalition partners.
The opposition parties later expressed dismay over adjournment of the session as they were planning to share their suggestions with the government to deal with the ongoing protests.
They said that Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif was prepared to present a viable solution to deal with protesters seeking reversal of Supreme Court's verdict in Aasia Bibi case through the platform of the House, but it was suddenly adjourned.
They said that the government itself had sought support of the opposition parties to deal with the crisis, but adjournment of the session on pretext of the quorum is beyond comprehension. They said the government should have shared the information with the lawmakers about the ongoing protests instead of adjourning the session.
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