The National Assembly was adjourned for the third consecutive day on Wednesday due to a lack of quorum, which was resolved in minutes and without consideration of any agenda items.
Soon after the reciting of verses from the Holy Quran and the playing of the national anthem, Riazul Haq of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz called attention to the lack of quorum. Speaker Asad Qaiser, who had declared the start of question hour, ordered a head count and delayed the meeting till Friday morning after determining that the house was not in order due to a lack of quorum, which requires the presence of 86 members (one-fourth of the entire house strength).
On Monday, Agha Rafiullah of the Pakistan Peoples Party raised the issue of quorum in protest against the absence of the ministers from the house, whereas on Tuesday, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement raised the issue of quorum when the chair refused to grant the floor to one of the party’s lawmakers who wanted to speak on the issue of the problems that the people of Karachi are experiencing.
A report by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency found that during the third parliamentary year, which ended in August last year, 24 out of 79 total sittings were adjourned due to lack of quorum, indicating that quorum has become a chronic problem in the National Assembly.
The assembly record, which is interesting, demonstrates that the members do come to the Parliament House, but just to sign the attendance register.
The house was also informed in a written response to a question that the most recent data from the Global Burden of Disease Study indicated that there were approximately 8.9 million diabetic patients in Pakistan as of 2019.
