ISLAMABAD, November 21, 2016: The National Assembly did not take up most of legislative business on Monday but managed to conclude debate on FATA Reforms, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during second sitting of the 37th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for three hours and eight minutes.
- The proceedings remained suspended for 19 minutes due to prayer break.
- The sitting started at 1603 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 12 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 55 minutes.
- Thirty-four lawmakers (10%) were present at outset while 33 (10%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PkMAP, JI, PML-Z, APML, QWP-S and ANP attended the sitting.
- Four minority members were present.
Output
- The House passed the Pakistan Council for Science and Technology Bill, 2016 while the Pakistan National Accreditation Council Bill, 2016 and the Public Private Partnership Authority Bill, 2016 were deferred.
- A member of the Standing Committee on Law & Justice presented the report of the committee on the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Bill, 2016.
- Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) presented the reports of PAC on the Accounts of Federation for years 1998-99, 2003-04, 2007-08 and report on Monitoring and Implementation for year 1996-97. He spoke for 15 minutes.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as nine out of 35 Starred Questions were responded to by the government. The lawmakers also asked 15 Supplementary Questions.
- The House took up a Calling Attention Notice regarding unavailability of prayer place in Hajj flight of Pakistan International Airlines while another notice regarding failure of National Economic Council to ensure balanced development across the country was not addressed.
- Four lawmakers participated in discussion on the Report of the Committee on FATA Reforms, 2016 consuming 33 minutes of the proceedings. The Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs concluded the discussion and spoke for six minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- A lawmaker spoke on a Point of Order consuming two minutes of the sitting.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted.