Lack of quorum in NA: government fails to get Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Bill passed

The government faced embarrassment for the second time in the ongoing National Assembly session on Monday as it again failed to get "The Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Bill, 2016" passed from the House due to lack of quorum. Earlier, the government side suffered the same fate when it tried to sail the bill through the National Assembly on Thursday last.
The opposition parties walked out from the House in protest on, what they termed, mala fide intent of the government behind passage of the bill, saying the ruling party wants to get Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family out of the Panama Papers controversy. Undeterred by protest of the opposition party, the government went ahead with the bill until the PPP MNA Shagufta Jumani pointed out the quorum.
Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq directed the staff to ring bells for five minutes to call the members in the House, but this too failed to complete the quorum. The ruling party members started looking here and there when the Speaker announced "the house is not in order" and adjourned it till Tuesday. The PML-N enjoys majority in the National Assembly with 189 members, but it has faced embarrassment for at least 28 times in nearly four parliamentary years for not maintaining required strength to even run the proceedings.
When Law Minister Zahid Hamid presented the bill in the House, the opposition parties strongly opposed it, saying the government has been striving to protect Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family in the Panama Papers case while the issue is already sub judice.
"It is 'Save Nawaz Sharif Bill' and we strongly oppose it," said PPP member Aijaz Jakhrani while questioning timing of the bill being presented in the House. He said the government has recently tabled the 24th Amendment bill in the National Assembly and that too sounds to be part of the plan to save skin of the Sharif family in the Panama Papers case.
Another PPP member Naveed Qamar also questioned intent of the government behind the bill as this is being passed at a time when the Supreme Court is hearing the Panama Papers case. "These tactics won't save you (the Sharif family) ... the government wants to control the inquiry commissions through this legislation," he said. MQM member S A Iqbal Qadri said the Lower House cannot pass the "Commissions of Inquiry Bill, 2016" under Article 142 as this doesn't fall under any item of the Schedule IV of the Constitution.
"It is mandatory that a provincial assembly should first pass a resolution in favour of such legislation to be carried out by the National Assembly," he said.
Jamaat-e-Islami member Sher Akbar Khan also opposed the bill, saying the passage of the legislation will influence the ongoing hearing in the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case. He said the government should have taken all the parliamentary parties into confidence before bringing the bill in the House. Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid, however, dispelled the impression of the opposition members, saying that the legislation is in no way linked to the investigation into Panama Papers case.
He said the legislation is being done on the directives of the Supreme Court as the apex court has said that Commissions of Inquiry Act 1956 has limited scope to investigate the matters like Panama issue. Dr Nafisa Shah, Nawab Yusuf Talpur and Sahibzada Tariqullah also spoke on the issue and opposed the bill.