ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly expressed solidarity with the victims of the earthquake in Turkiye and Syria as the lower house reached a consensus that a one-month salary will be donated by all the Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) to the quake affectees.

Speaking on a point of order during the Joint Session of Parliament on Tuesday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Rana Muhammad Qasim Noon proposed the National Assembly (NA) Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to donate a one-month salary of all the members of the lower house of parliament to the earthquake victims in the two brotherly countries.

Seconding the proposal of Qasim Noon, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Chaudhry Mahmood Bashir Virk said the quake-affected people were facing a difficult time, therefore the lawmakers must help them at this hour of trials and tribulations.

“We must go beyond one-month salaries and provide enormous financial assistance to the marooned individuals,” says MNA Ramesh Kumar Vankwani.

He went on to say that all the members of this august house were well off and they could support this noble cause by donating millions of rupees in their personal capacity.

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Raja Riaz Ahmad said it was a positive move as both the treasury and opposition benches had mutually agreed to donate their one-month salary to the earthquake victims.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami’s MNA Abdul Akbar Chitrali, expressing his apprehensions, said he would prefer to donate his salary to AlKhidmat Foundation which was already conducting welfare activities in Turkiye and Syria.

Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said the house had reached a consensus to donate one month’s salary to earthquake victims of Turkiye and Syria, except Abdul Akbar Chitrali.