Imran Khan plays truant in lower house

[uberkoen]

Link

What would you do if one of your employees only showed up for work only for two days every month – but you pay him/her for 30 days?

That is what PTI supremo Imran Khan has been doing – attending the National Assembly barely for the last almost three-and-a-half years despite being an elected representative of over 0.25 million registered residents of NA-56.

During this period, the National Assembly collectively held 374 sittings [comprising of 36 regular sessions and 10 joint sessions of parliament] of which Imran Khan attended only 22 – almost a little less than six per cent of the total sittings.

However, he continues to draw salaries and other privileges an MNA is paid out of the national kitty.

His overall performance in the National Assembly includes: eight times he spoke on matters related to the government on motions under Rule 18 [Rule 18 of the National Assembly’s Rules of Procedure allows the speaker to let members raise matters which concern the government], on seven occasions he participated in regular proceedings, he spoke on points of order eight times, and he asked only two questions for their written replies from federal ministries.

During the 2013 general elections, he contested four constituencies – he won on three and lost on one – and retained his seat of NA-56 (Rawalpindi).

The Express Tribune has compiled details of Khan’s overall performance using details available on the National Assembly website [attendance of the MNAs], NA Secretariat, and data available with the Free and Fair Election Network.

On-going parliamentary year

The 14th National Assembly has almost completed three-and-a-half parliamentary years. In NA, a parliamentary year starts from June 1 and ends on May 31 every year.
PTI will not attend Erdogan’s address to Parliament, confirms Imran

During almost first six months of the on-going 4th parliamentary year, some four regular sessions and three joint sessions of parliament [comprising of a total of 49 sittings] have been held.

And Imran Khan attended the lower house only once during this time period – that is on September 8 during fifth sitting of the 35th session of the NA and his activity was limited to speaking once on a point of order on that day. He also skipped the budget session.

His attendance record shows that he came to the National Assembly on September 8 to avoid de-seating from the house because if a parliamentarian remains absent without leave for 40 consecutive days of a sitting, then he/she can be de-seated under Clause 2 of Article 64 of the Constitution.

He also did not attend three joint sittings – one each addressed by the Turkish president, the president of Pakistan and another convened to denounce human rights violations in Indian Occupied Kashmir.

3rd parliamentary year

During the third parliamentary year, 11 regular sessions and two joint sessions of parliament were held consisting of a total of 119 sittings. Of these, Khan attended only five. He was absent for 80 days and availed leave for 34 sittings.

During five days of his presence in the assembly during the whole year, he participated in the house proceedings twice

2nd parliamentary year

It was the year when Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf opted for the first boycott of parliament due to its 126 days-long sit-in the party had staged in Islamabad to protest alleged general election riggings.

During this year, 11 regular sessions and four joint sessions were held comprising 109 sittings. Khan attended the house only four times.

1st parliamentary year

Seeing Khan’s worst performance during 2nd, 3rd, and 4th parliamentary years, one can say his performance was relatively “good” during the first parliamentary year.

Khan attended 12 sittings out of 96 held during the parliamentary year 2013-14. And he was absent for 84 days. He asked two questions related to commerce and defence ministries and he got replies from the government.

He spoke seven times on different points of order related to governance, foreign relations, democracy and politics, etc. Besides, he also participated in regular proceedings five times. He also took part in proceedings five times through motion under rule 18.

 

[Waseem]

This is one of my biggest criticism against Imran Khan, no matter what you think about crooks making this parliament worthless and platform for point scoring, you MUST attend even if it practically doesn't change much. I don't entirely agree about the salary part as he donated all of it to Shaukat Khanum last time he didn't attend due to dharna but it's more about SIGNIFICANCE of parliament.

 

[uberkoen]

[MENTION=138463]Slog[/MENTION] [MENTION=133397]WebGuru[/MENTION] [MENTION=138254]Syed1[/MENTION] [MENTION=1269]Bewal Express[/MENTION] [MENTION=138980]TalentSpotterPk[/MENTION] [MENTION=21699]Pakpak[/MENTION]

No comments on this?

 

[Slog]

[MENTION=138463]Slog[/MENTION] [MENTION=133397]WebGuru[/MENTION] [MENTION=138254]Syed1[/MENTION] [MENTION=1269]Bewal Express[/MENTION] [MENTION=138980]TalentSpotterPk[/MENTION] [MENTION=21699]Pakpak[/MENTION]

No comments on this?

Not ideal but its not like the PM's attendance is any better.

He sets the tone of the seriousness of the assembly and we all know what his record is

also in this govt major decisions (cpec, power projects, operation) are not being taken in parliament

 

[Mamoon]

This is one of my biggest criticism against Imran Khan, no matter what you think about crooks making this parliament worthless and platform for point scoring, you MUST attend even if it practically doesn't change much. I don't entirely agree about the salary part as he donated all of it to Shaukat Khanum last time he didn't attend due to dharna but it's more about SIGNIFICANCE of parliament.

First of all, thank you for acknowledging it with an open mind.

Secondly, it doesn't matter where that salary goes. It is his personal matter and he can use it anyway he wants.

However, the fact is that he is getting money that he is not earning. If PTI calls NA fake, then it should also stop drawing salaries and utilizing its privileges.

Using this logic, one can also defend corruption if the money is being used for a good cause. However, certain things are intrinsically wrong and that applies here as well.

PTI supporters are not able to defend this hypocrisy and end up either side-stepping the issue or indulge in logical fallacies and counter-questioning, or the good old 'but others are doing worse' etc.

The fact that this thread has had 200 views and only 3 replies - that too because certain posters are now being forced to reply because they got tagged - says it all really.

These posters were happy to side-step this thread in the hope that it will disappear eventually and move to the second page. Thank you for showing up though, it is appreciable.

 

[Pakpak]

[MENTION=138463]Slog[/MENTION] [MENTION=133397]WebGuru[/MENTION] [MENTION=138254]Syed1[/MENTION] [MENTION=1269]Bewal Express[/MENTION] [MENTION=138980]TalentSpotterPk[/MENTION] [MENTION=21699]Pakpak[/MENTION]

No comments on this?

Its not defendable, what else do you want me to say? Our parliament is a joke however, and its not like Baadshah salamat attends it much either. But IK should not collect $$$$$ if he doesn't come.

 

[Waseem]

First of all, thank you for acknowledging it with an open mind.

Secondly, it doesn't matter where that salary goes. It is his personal matter and he can use it anyway he wants.

However, the fact is that he is getting money that he is not earning. If PTI calls NA fake, then it should also stop drawing salaries and utilizing its privileges.

Using this logic, one can also defend corruption if the money is being used for a good cause. However, certain things are intrinsically wrong and that applies here as well.

PTI supporters are not able to defend this hypocrisy and end up either side-stepping the issue or indulge in logical fallacies and counter-questioning, or the good old 'but others are doing worse' etc.

The fact that this thread has had 200 views and only 3 replies - that too because certain posters are now being forced to reply because they got tagged - says it all really.

These posters were happy to side-step this thread in the hope that it will disappear eventually and move to the second page. Thank you for showing up though, it is appreciable.

I agree it doesn't matter where the salary goes but i said it's a minor issue considering majority of parliamentarians including Badshah e salamat don't do much there anyway i think Imran Khan does enough as an elected representative to justify the salary when you look at THE BIGGER PICTURE.

What's lot more important is that Imran needs to get involved in political discussions inside the parliament, his presence will improve performance of PTI representatives, his presence will result in more meaningful discussion even from other party reps as presence of high profile leader makes huge difference to quality of discussion. His parliament speeches are always of high quality and there is increased media focus when he attends so issues discussed at parliament get more media attention.

 

[Syed1]

Yes it not a good move on the part of IK. Either resign or forego the perks and privileges of being a MNA.

 

[Bewal Express]

[MENTION=138463]Slog[/MENTION] [MENTION=133397]WebGuru[/MENTION] [MENTION=138254]Syed1[/MENTION] [MENTION=1269]Bewal Express[/MENTION] [MENTION=138980]TalentSpotterPk[/MENTION] [MENTION=21699]Pakpak[/MENTION]

No comments on this?

I agree IK should treat this chora ka ghar with more respect. BTW how often does the PM turn up.

 

[Bewal Express]

Its not defendable, what else do you want me to say? Our parliament is a joke however, and its not like Baadshah salamat attends it much either. But IK should not collect $$$$$ if he doesn't come.

Is the PM being asked to resign for not attending parliament, or is that call just to IK. I think recently the PM was forced to hold cabinet meetings by the SC as very few had been held since he became PM, shouldnt that mean a resignation is in order. IK is wrong but the whole system is broken, and it wasnt broken by IK.

 

[Syed1]

Is the PM being asked to resign for not attending parliament, or is that call just to IK. I think recently the PM was forced to hold cabinet meetings by the SC as very few had been held since he became PM, shouldnt that mean a resignation is in order. IK is wrong but the whole system is broken, and it wasnt broken by IK.

Bhai these Noonis were even asking Imran to not pursue the Panama case in SC instead demand the government to improve FIA, NAB so that they can investigate Nawaz and company.

Rationality is hard to expect from Noonis.


However, I agree Imran shouldn't take the salary of a MNA if he is not attending the parliament. You cannot expect Badshah Salamat to do the same. The last time Badshah shahab came to the parliament he lied infront of the entire nation. In most developed countries that would have been grounds for immediate disqualification.

 

[srh]

the one reason Nawaz Sharif is getting away with all the bad deeds is because his opponent Imran Khan is also pretty bad

 

[Bewal Express]

the one reason Nawaz Sharif is getting away with all the bad deeds is because his opponent Imran Khan is also pretty bad

So now IK is to blame for the criminality of the Sharifs, what next the Sharifs children are not his children but the Children of IK.

 

[Slog]

the one reason Nawaz Sharif is getting away with all the bad deeds is because his opponent Imran Khan is also pretty bad

No

Nawaz sharif has been corrupt and useless since way before Imran Khan even came on the scene

 

[Bewal Express]

No

Nawaz sharif has been corrupt and useless since way before Imran Khan even came on the scene

But its IK`s fault that he was like that, had he done his job, NS would have been a hard working honest politician.

 

[Pakistanian]

We need to scrap the British Parliamentary system and institute a Presidential system like America.

 

[Haroon786]

We need to scrap the British Parliamentary system and institute a Presidential system like America.

So Pakistan also manage to elect their own Donald Trump ?

 

[Waseem]

the one reason Nawaz Sharif is getting away with all the bad deeds is because his opponent Imran Khan is also pretty bad

Sir your leader has been involved (and getting away) in dodgy stuff even when Imran Khan was still playing cricket, was still building hospital and wasn't even in politics. In the 80's when Sharif was playing games with the help of ISI forming IJI to conspire against democratically elected government (even taking cash payments), Imran Khan was still serving Pakistan and didn't even join politics till 96 so please own your leader and don't blame others for his greed, incompetence and corruption.

 

[Waseem]

this is one big problem with IK fans; if a person is not agreeing with every action of IK then that person's leader must be Nawaz Sharif or Bilawal or somebody else. very shallow

And this is EXACTLY the problem with Nawaz Sharif supporters, they will defend him on every thread whether it's about his policies, corruption, family politics or anything for that matter but they don't own him due to his obvious issues. If you are not a Nawaz fan (despite supporting him on every thread) then why are you calling others IK fans? What's the difference? We have personally nothing to gain from Imran Khan, do we? In fact most of us don't even live in Pakistan?

 

[ahmedwaqas92]

It's ok to support anyone you want, nobody is questioning that however what really irks me is that certain supporters of PTI label people Noora, Bhutto etc etc when they are not agreeing to a flaw or some bad practice by PTI or their leadership themselves.

Believe it or not, this is coming from experience; I was a former Marketing adviser for PTI in the Far East Chapter which constituted countries like Malaysia, Korea, Japan, Indonesia etc etc but you know what I left that position almost 2 years ago because I saw what it was becoming and how the top leadership used to say something and do something else entirely.

I admit PTI has done a wonderful job in the KP province and I myself am a big big fan of Imran Khan (the personality) but there are certain political moves that he does which I highly disagree with and if you are sharing such views on social media then the first think PTI supporters do is that they attack you by labeling the person in question as a Noora or an XYZ supporter. In my case, since I am from Karachi they tell me I am MQM hami / gangster etc etc.

Well....I didn't want to go on a rant regarding this but [MENTION=21215]srh[/MENTION] brings up very valid criticism and i agree to it more or less entirely. I personally think that the political setup (supporters / workers / voters) for all parties that campaign in Pakistan need another 10-15 years of proper democratic transitions to actually mature into something that is observed in developed countries like UK, USA etc etc.

Nothing against anyone in particular but just my two cents on the matter.

 

[Pakpak]

It's ok to support anyone you want, nobody is questioning that however what really irks me is that certain supporters of PTI label people Noora, Bhutto etc etc when they are not agreeing to a flaw or some bad practice by PTI or their leadership themselves.

Believe it or not, this is coming from experience; I was a former Marketing adviser for PTI in the Far East Chapter which constituted countries like Malaysia, Korea, Japan, Indonesia etc etc but you know what I left that position almost 2 years ago because I saw what it was becoming and how the top leadership used to say something and do something else entirely.

I admit PTI has done a wonderful job in the KP province and I myself am a big big fan of Imran Khan (the personality) but there are certain political moves that he does which I highly disagree with and if you are sharing such views on social media then the first think PTI supporters do is that they attack you by labeling the person in question as a Noora or an XYZ supporter. In my case, since I am from Karachi they tell me I am MQM hami / gangster etc etc.

Well....I didn't want to go on a rant regarding this but [MENTION=21215]srh[/MENTION] brings up very valid criticism and i agree to it more or less entirely. I personally think that the political setup (supporters / workers / voters) for all parties that campaign in Pakistan need another 10-15 years of proper democratic transitions to actually mature into something that is observed in developed countries like UK, USA etc etc.

Nothing against anyone in particular but just my two cents on the matter.

Srh doesn't really bring up any valid criticism. He is the one labelling people as PTI supporters.

I think its entirely cowardly and disingenuous to engage in debate and then when you have no argument you claim ''oh but I don't support xyz'' when the person's entire post count points to the contrary. It makes a mockery of a debate and wastes everyone's time. Atleast some should have the guts to admit who they support. And he is not the only one, Noon league's biggest supporters here defend them in every thread, every debate yet none of the admit they support Nawaz. Only neutral is DW44 who criticises every party equally.

 

[Syed1]

Srh doesn't really bring up any valid criticism. He is the one labelling people as PTI supporters.

I think its entirely cowardly and disingenuous to engage in debate and then when you have no argument you claim ''oh but I don't support xyz'' when the person's entire post count points to the contrary. It makes a mockery of a debate and wastes everyone's time. Atleast some should have the guts to admit who they support. And he is not the only one, Noon league's biggest supporters here defend them in every thread, every debate yet none of the admit they support Nawaz. Only neutral is DW44 who criticises every party equally.

Exactly it is an easy cop out when you are backed up into a corner and have no more arguments left to defend your leader, just say "who told you I'm a Nawaz supporter".

When all you do is support Nawaz on each and every thread than you are a Nawaz supporter through and through.

Personally I have no problems calling out Imran on his fallacies I wish Noora supporters displayed the same sense of ownership when defending Badshah Salamat's corruption and din dihaari chori.

 

[Waseem]

It's ok to support anyone you want, nobody is questioning that however what really irks me is that certain supporters of PTI label people Noora, Bhutto etc etc when they are not agreeing to a flaw or some bad practice by PTI or their leadership themselves.

Believe it or not, this is coming from experience; I was a former Marketing adviser for PTI in the Far East Chapter which constituted countries like Malaysia, Korea, Japan, Indonesia etc etc but you know what I left that position almost 2 years ago because I saw what it was becoming and how the top leadership used to say something and do something else entirely.

I admit PTI has done a wonderful job in the KP province and I myself am a big big fan of Imran Khan (the personality) but there are certain political moves that he does which I highly disagree with and if you are sharing such views on social media then the first think PTI supporters do is that they attack you by labeling the person in question as a Noora or an XYZ supporter. In my case, since I am from Karachi they tell me I am MQM hami / gangster etc etc.

Well....I didn't want to go on a rant regarding this but [MENTION=21215]srh[/MENTION] brings up very valid criticism and i agree to it more or less entirely. I personally think that the political setup (supporters / workers / voters) for all parties that campaign in Pakistan need another 10-15 years of proper democratic transitions to actually mature into something that is observed in developed countries like UK, USA etc etc.

Nothing against anyone in particular but just my two cents on the matter.

I don't think you got the point, people like srh defend Nawaz Sharif on every issue. For example Panama case, they will argue that Nawaz is innocent, his name is not even there, his kids are innocent, their businesses are legal, they have never done corruption, Imran is crazy for raising voice on this useless issue, Imran is the reason the institutions are not functioning properly.
As soon as you raise valid questions against Nawaz, oh why are you asking us, we are not even Nawaz supporters. Fine, if you want to be neutral, ACT neutral, criticise Nawaz for his lies, corruption, tax evasion, criticise Imran for his lack of attendance or dharna politics, Taliban peace talks issue etc.

 

[Waseem]

Srh doesn't really bring up any valid criticism. He is the one labelling people as PTI supporters.

I think its entirely cowardly and disingenuous to engage in debate and then when you have no argument you claim ''oh but I don't support xyz'' when the person's entire post count points to the contrary. It makes a mockery of a debate and wastes everyone's time. Atleast some should have the guts to admit who they support. And he is not the only one, Noon league's biggest supporters here defend them in every thread, every debate yet none of the admit they support Nawaz. Only neutral is DW44 who criticises every party equally.

Spot on! I didn't read before responding but you nailed it and i agree people like DW44 and there are few others who criticise Imran Khan a lot (we can agree or disagree) but then they do act neutral and crticise others where required as well. At least they don't turn up on threads and claim that all Pakistani institutins are totally destroyed because Imran Khan is not putting enough pressure on Nawaz Sharif to fix those institutions

 

[Eagle_Eye]

When was the last time zardari was seen in Pakistan let alone parliament?

 

[uberkoen]

When was the last time zardari was seen in Pakistan let alone parliament?

lol.

Please explain to me why you would expect Zardari to attend the Parliament. I would really appreciate an explanation here so I can gauge your thinking.

 

[TalentSpotterPk]

[MENTION=138463]Slog[/MENTION] [MENTION=133397]WebGuru[/MENTION] [MENTION=138254]Syed1[/MENTION] [MENTION=1269]Bewal Express[/MENTION] [MENTION=138980]TalentSpotterPk[/MENTION] [MENTION=21699]Pakpak[/MENTION]

No comments on this?

Yes I disagree with IK on this.

He should not miss any Parliament session unless there is an unforeseen emergency (God forbid) where he is unable to attend the session.

 

[godzilla]

is attending parliament a mandatory part in the job description? i dont know which is why im asking. as far as i know, in the uk and in the european parliament, most of the assemblies are ineffective rubber stamping exercises, and most leading politicians miss all but the most important sessions. the mp's are paid for doing a whole host of things, attending sessions in only one of them, and one would expect a british mp to manage them all in the most time efficient and efficacious way possible - attending sessions for the sake of attending sessions i would have thought is not important, at least until we know what it says in the job description, or until we know what most of the sessions consist of, and whether they would be a waste of time preventing other more important tasks to be completed.

dont know whether that applies in pakistan or not though.

https://www.parliament.uk/site-info...ivisions-by-individual-members-of-parliament/

"Members of Parliament are not obliged by parliamentary rules to attend the House at any time. Political parties may make demands of their MPs, but that is a matter for them."

"In the Commons ensuring attendance has become a function of party machinery, and the Whips of the various parties make it their duty to secure adequate representation for all important divisions."

https://www.parliament.uk/site-info...commons-and-members-staff/members-attendance/

this link includes a list of votes at which an mp was present which is the proxy parliament suggests as a measure of attendance:

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...011/sep/08/reality-check-britain-s-laziest-mp

the average number is extremely low.