ISLAMABAD: Members from Pakistan’s ruling and opposition parties in the National Assembly (NA) have agreed to hold the budget session with only 25 percent of lawmakers in attendance this year, a rare arrangement for the June 12 event and part of efforts to control the spread of coronavirus in the country.
It follows a meeting of parliamentary leaders, led by NA Speaker Asad Qaiser, at the Parliament House on Monday to discuss the modus operandi for sittings in the lower house of parliament during the pandemic.
“The Assembly would stretch up to three hours with the presence of 25 percent of the total membership during a particular sitting and that (is) to be decided by the leadership of parliamentary parties,” a statement released by the Speaker’s office said.
As per the arrangement, only 86 out of the NA’s total strength of 342 will be participating in the session when the federal government presents its budget for the fiscal year 2020-21.
“Chief whips of the parliamentary parties were asked to submit names of their members interested in taking part in the discussion beforehand to the National Assembly Secretariat,” the statement added.
The group agreed that all health guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) would be followed to contain the outbreak.
Initiating the discussions, Speaker Qaiser said that 13 members of the House had tested positive for the disease, in addition to several staff members.
He urged all members to follow the SOPs, adding that he and his family were “victim of this virus” too.
“I can feel the agony and pain which the coronavirus patients and their families go through,” he said.
As of Tuesday, Pakistan had recorded 2,172 coronavirus deaths from across the country after the first case was reported in late February this year.
