ISLAMABAD: Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf took serious note of absence of many members of lower house (MNAs) during question hour and demanded MNAs moving questions to ensure their presence during QA session.

Speaker chairing 51st session of Assembly took questions for oral answers and their replies and started calling movers of different questions where noticeable number of members were absent.

Speaker resented absence of MNAs and said that question hour was significant part of proceedings of house and their presence was equally important as they had background knowledge on their queries and could raise supplementary questions on issues of public importance.

“This should never become practice as if that I am question of someone else but is raised by others,” he said. Expressing his point of opinion, MNA Munawar Talpur of PPPP said question hour was important and this has been tradition earlier that if mover was absent then present members used to raise that query on his behalf.

MNA Sheikh Rohale Asghar of PML-N said it was prerogative of Speaker to allow other members to raise questions on absent members’ behalf and was also discontinued from his side.

Parliamentary Secretary for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, Syed Agha Rafiullah said it was an important part of lower house’s business and an opportunity to raise public importance issues that were lingered on by bureaucracy. It mostly helped lot in resolving such public issues facing red-tap hiccups.

Published in The Daily National Courier, April, 06 2023

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