ISLAMABAD, April 13, 2017: The National Assembly on Thursday left its regular agenda unaddressed to debate an Adjournment Motion on Pakistan’s role in the Islamic Military Alliance, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during second sitting of the 41st session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 22 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1045 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting except last 20 minutes when the Deputy Speaker chaired the proceedings.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 50 minutes.
- Seventy lawmakers (20%) were present at the outset and 60 (17%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The Parliamentary leaders of QWP-S, PML-F, PkMAP, JI, PkMAP and NP attended the sitting.
- Four minority members were present.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as seven out of 31 Starred Questions were responded to by the government. The lawmakers also asked 19 Supplementary Questions.
- The House did not take up two Calling Attention Notices appearing on the agenda.
- The House held 50-minute long discussion on an Adjournment Motion regarding Pakistan’s role in the Islamic Military Alliance. Five PTI lawmakers participated in the discussion while the Minister for Defence concluded it.
Order and Institutionalization
- A lawmaker spoke on a Point of Order consuming 17 minutes of the sitting.
- The lawmakers belonging to PPPP staged a walkout at 1214 hours against the absence of relevant minister to respond to the query of enforced disappearances of their party loyalists. They did not return to the House.
- A PPPP lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1307 minutes that led to the adjournment of the sitting.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of the 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.