The National Assembly of Pakistan has amended its rules to make the prior permission of the speaker mandatory for the arrest of any member of the house and the issuance of production order for an arrested lawmaker. When the session convened only 21 members (of a total of 259) were present but no one pointed out the lack of quorum. According to the amendments, permission of the speaker will be necessary for the arrest of a member of the National Assembly. Besides, no member would be arrested from the National Assembly premises. Also the amendments make issuance of production order by the speaker mandatory during the session. Through another amendment to the rules, the house made it mandatory that during the session, the residence of the arrested member or the Parliament Lodges would be declared as sub-jail, where the arrested member would reside, reports Dawn.
