MPAs demand diplomatic enclaves in Karachi.

KARACHI -- Despite three attempts, the ruling party could not complete quorum in Sindh Assembly on Friday, which compelled Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani to adjourn the session till Monday. It was the second sitting in a week when the proceedings of assembly could not begin due to lack of quorum. It showed that MPAs from ruling and opposition parties were not interested in the session despite receiving huge salaries and funds.

The session started at 10am with the members reciting Fateha and condemning the attack on the Chinese Consulate. However, when the speaker started the question answer session, a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member stood up and drew the speaker's attention to the quorum. 'There are not sufficient members to run the session,' he said.

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The Speaker's staff counted 39 members in the House which comprises total 168 members. According to the rules, at least 42 members (one-fourth of the house), must be present in order to complete quorum. Taking notice of this, the Speaker adjourned the session for five minutes. When he returned, the quorum was still not complete and interestingly opposition members were also not present in the House.

On the request of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Chawla, the Speaker adjourned the session for another ten minutes. Yet, even after ten minutes only 38 members from the government were present in the House, which promoted the Speaker to adjourn the session till Monday. 'We have intimated the government that it cannot run the session without our presence. It was private members day last Tuesday when the Speaker unnecessarily adjourned the session and deferred our resolutions...