ISLAMABAD, October 22, 2014: The National Assembly discussed unprovoked firing and shelling by the Indian forces on the Line of Control (LoC) and Working Boundary during the 3rd sitting of 15th session on Wednesday, says the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Tabled by the Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan under Rule 259, eight lawmakers – PML-N (4), PPPP (2) and one each by JI and MQM – debated a motion for an hour and 16 minutes and expressed their concerns over civilian casualties and damages to property.
Jointly sponsored by a PML-N lawmaker and two JUI-F female members, the House took up a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding the withdrawal of facility for funds from the Federal Government Employees Benevolent Fund and the Group Insurance Fund. Under the new rules, the federal government employees cannot take advances to pay fee for their children studying in the public sector universities.
Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:
Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings:
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 40 minutes.
- The sitting began at 1120 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours witnessing a delay of 20 minutes.
- The Speaker chaired the sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
- The Prime Minister attended the sitting for 32 minutes while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 12 minutes.
- Forty-five lawmakers (13%) were present at the outset and 95 (28%) at the adjournment while a maximum of 126 members (37%) were observed to be present at one point during the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, QWP, JI, APML, BNP-A and MQM attended the sitting.
- Five minority members attended the sitting.
- Eight lawmakers applied for leave.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Tabled by the Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan under Rule 259, the House debated a motion for an hour and 16 minutes and expressed their concerns over civilian casualties and damages to property.
- Eight lawmakers – PML-N (4) PPPP (2) and one each from JI and MQM – participated in the debate for an hour and 16 minutes.
- The House took up nine of 31 questions (requiring oral as well as written replies) while the members also asked 14 supplementary questions.
Order and Institutionalization
- Three points of order consumed five minutes of the proceedings’ time.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- Information on members’ attendance was not available to observers and the public.
- The Quorum was visibly lacking at various stages of the sitting. However, it was not pointed out by any of the legislators.
This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of FAFEN and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI); a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions excepted