ISLAMABAD: The lower house of parliament was prorogued sine die on Thursday due to lack of quorum as majority of lawmakers - both belonging to the treasury and the opposition - were found absent after the much-needed legislation - pertaining to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) - was done through the joint sitting of parliament a day ago.

Soon after the start of formal proceedings, Murtaza Javed Abassi of opposition, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) pointed out the quorum, following which, the Deputy Speaker, Qasim Khan Suri, suspended the proceedings for 30 minutes. On resumption of the proceedings, the attendance of lawmakers was found less than the required strength i.e. one-fourth of the total membership after counting, following which the chair announced to prorogue the session.

It is to mention that it was the 26th session of the 16th National Assembly comprising four sittings.

The session started on September 14, 2020 and concluded on September 17, 2020.

The House did not take up any agenda item appearing on orders of the day, which included five bills including the President's Salary, Allowances and Privileges (Amendment) Bill, 2020, the Prime Minister's Salary, Allowances and Privileges (Amendment) Bill, 2020, the Privatization Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2020, the Emigration (Amendment) Bill, 2020, and the Joint Maritime Information Organization Bill, 2019.

The House did not take up two calling attention notices regarding non-payment of net hydel profit and arrears by the federal government to the provincial government of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and depriving the newly-merged tribal districts from the resources promised to it at the time of their merger with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The question hour was also not taken up and a commenced motion under Rule 259 was also not carried forward due to lack of quorum.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020