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ISLAMABAD – The National Assembly yesterday completed an embarrassing hat-trick for the ever-growing issue of lack of required quorum in the house.
The opposition, for the third consecutive day taking advantage of lack of quorum to run the house, suspended the national assembly session.
With the onset of the proceedings, the MNAs from opposition pointed out the lack of required quorum in the house when the chair was about to start the Question-Hour session. The house with the start of the proceedings witnessed a very thin presence, so the chair suspended the house for an hour.
The PTI-government MNAs were not able to manage the required strength (86 MNAs) in the house even in an hour. The chair after an hour asked for recounting in the house but less than 86 members were present in the house.
It may be noted here that the government wants to present the Tax Laws (Fourth) Amendment Bill (mini budget) and the bill regarding granting autonomy to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in the house during the current week.
The government may not be able to present these important bills with this insufficient quorum in the house as the Ministry of Finance and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had finalized the Tax Laws (Fourth) Amendment Bill. Now it was up to the government to present these two bills before the house to fulfil the conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The government has to approve the bill before January 12, 2022 when the Executive Board of the IMF would meet to discuss Pakistan’s sixth review under Extended Fund Facility.
The Tax Laws (Fourth) Amendment Bill is believed to unleash a new wave of inflation in the country. The incumbent government has already been blamed for high inflation.
The government, with the break of around one month, had summoned this session which on the first three days was adjourned due to the lack of required strength.