ISLAMABAD, November 24, 2016: The National Assembly discussed incidents of ceasefire violations at the Line of Control through Points of Order, leaving behind the regular agenda except Questions on Thursday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during fifth sitting of the 37th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 30 minutes.
- The sitting started five minutes behind the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
- The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting as the Speaker was not present.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for an hour and 18 minutes.
- Twenty-six lawmakers (7%) were present at outset and 54 (16%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PkMAP, JI and APML attended the sitting.
- Seven minority members were present.
Output
- The House did not take up the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Bill, 2016 and the Public Private Partnership Authority Bill, 2016.
- The periodical reports of various standing committees appearing on the agenda were also not taken up.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as 10 out of 33 Starred Questions were responded to by the government. The lawmakers also asked 14 Supplementary Questions.
- The House did not take up two Calling Attention Notices included in Orders of the Day.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on six Points of Order consuming 62 minutes of the sitting. They discussed the ceasefire violations at the Line of Control and killing of civilians as a result of unprovoked Indian firing.
- A PPPP lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1305 hours that led to adjournment of the proceedings.
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.