Imran's attendance in NA 6%, 110 PML-N members never spoke: report
FAFEN's report says that PM's attendance only 17% while Opposition Leader's attendance 76%
ISLAMABAD: (Dunya News) – In a report published on Tuesday, FAFEN has revealed that the major political personalities of the country did not consider parliament a serious forum for solution of issues as their attendance in the parliament was extremely low. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan’s attendance was just 6% while that of Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif was 17%. Opposition Leader in National Assembly (NA) Khurshid Shah however had an attendance of 76%, reported Dunya News.
According to the report, around two-thirds of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) members in the parliament never uttered a word while almost half of those of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) remained silent too. In numbers, PML-N’s 110 and PPP’s 17 members never spoke in the parliament.
5 members each of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and PTI also remained silent in the parliament. However, their percentage was lower compared to the members of PML-N.
Talking to Kamran Khan on Dunya News program ‘Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Saath’, PML-N’s senior politician Sheikh Rohail Asghar said that the democracy was quite young in Pakistan. He said that the members of the parliament were still learning and would gradually understand the importance of attending the parliamentary sessions, as well as the need to discuss the political issues on the highest forum of the country.
Asghar said that it was important for the members to attend the parliamentary sessions, even if they didn’t speak at all, since there was a lot they could learn from the discussions held in the parliament. He agreed to Kamran Khan when he asked if the PML-N members hesitated while asking the questions since ministers from their own party were to answer those questions.
“With the passage of time, the parliamentarians will begin to understand that there was nothing wrong in asking questions even if other party members were to answer. It is not criticism for the sake of criticism only; it’d be criticism for the sake of construction”, he continued, "it is also important to note that our democratic system mainly revolves around the constituency politics. The constituents don t yet expect their constituency representatives to be discussing the national issues. Meanwhile, the issues of the constituency are never going to be resolved in the parliament".
