ISLAMABAD, August 4, 2017: The National Assembly on Friday adopted a motion to constitute a Special Committee to probe the allegations of harassment made by a female lawmaker of PTI against the party’s chairman, observes Free and Fair Election Network.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during second sitting of the 44th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for an hour and 35 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1135 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
- The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
- The Leader of the House attended the sitting for an hour and five minutes while the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 87 (25%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 105 (31%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of APML, PkMAP, AMLP, ANP, BNP, JI, PPPP, PML-Z and QWP-S attended the sitting.
- Six minority lawmakers were present.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House suspended the Question Hour and the regular agenda to discuss the incident of manhandling AMLP lawmaker in the Parliament House premises and a PTI lawmaker’s allegations of harassment against the party’s chairman. Nineteen lawmakers including the Prime Minister spoke on these issues for an hour and 28 minutes.
- The House adopted a motion to constitute a Special Committee of the National Assembly to probe the harassment allegations of a female lawmaker of PTI.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers belonging to PTI, MQM and JI staged a walkout for ten minutes against the incident of manhandling AMLP lawmaker in the premises of the Parliament House.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Information on Members’ attendance is available on the National Assembly website.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly’s proceedings, conducted by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted