- Session Prorogued
ISLAMABAD, September 19, 2019: The National Assembly could not take up its entire agenda on Thursday due to the protest of opposition parties against the arrest of PPPP lawmaker as well as lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during fourth (last) sitting of the 14th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for an hour and 59 minutes, while the proceedings remained suspended for 45 minutes due to a prayer break.
- The sitting started at 1141 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
- The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting in absence of the Speaker.
- The Leaders of the House (Prime Minister) and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 105 (31%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 77 (23%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of GDA, BAP, PML-N and MMAP attended the sitting.
- Six out of 10 minority lawmakers were also present during the day.
Output
- The House did not consider the legislative business, 10 periodical reports as well as a Calling Attention Notice (CAN), appearing on the agenda.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Minister for Communications responded to a CAN regarding the non-provision of an interchange on the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway linking to the Islamabad International Airport. However, the minister could not complete his answer due to the pointing of quorum by a PML-N lawmaker.
Order and Institutionalization
- Six lawmakers, including the Minister for Communications, spoke on points of order consuming 38 minutes of the proceedings. The POs were related to political issues and the arrest of PPPP lawmaker (former Leader of the Opposition) by the NAB authorities.
- The opposition lawmakers protested for 10 minutes in front of the dais after the Speaker disallowed them from speaking on points of order and instead called for taking up the agenda first.
- A PML-N lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1341 hours that led to the announcement of the prorogation of the session sine die by the Chair.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of the lawmakers is available on the National Assembly’s website.
This daily factsheet is based on the direct observation of National Assembly’s proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted