ISLAMABAD, December 9, 2019: The National Assembly did not take up its legislative business on Monday due to the absence of relevant cabinet members and discussed political issues through points of order, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during fourth sitting of the 17th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 57 minutes; however, the proceedings remained suspended for 29 minutes due to prayer break.
- The sitting started at 1627 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
- The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting in the absence of Speaker.
- The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- Forty-four lawmakers (13%) were present at the outset and 60 (18%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of JWP, PML-N, AMLP and PPPP attended the sitting.
- Six minority members were present.
Output
- Two bills including the Mutual Legal Assistance (Criminal Matters) Bill, 2019 and the Banks (Nationalization) (Amendment) Bill, 2019 were not considered by the House due to the absence of Minister for Interior and Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue.
- The House witnessed presentation of nine periodical reports of as many Standing Committees for the period January-June, 2019. These committees included National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination; Interior; Information Technology and Telecommunication; Information and Broadcasting; Commerce and Textile; Maritime Affairs; Inter Provincial Coordination; Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development and Water Resources.
- Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs presented the Special Audit, Special Study, Subject Study and Performance Audit Reports of the Auditor General for the Audit year 2018-19.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Parliamentary Secretary for Maritime Affairs responded to a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding issuance of NOC for the construction of Baba Bhit Island Jetty resulting in problems for fishermen.
- Another CAN on the agenda was not taken up due to the absence of its movers which was about non-payment of transport monetization facility to officers in BPS-19 and below.
- The House took up six out of 35 starred questions while lawmakers asked 13 supplementary questions as well.
Order and Institutionalization
- Seven lawmakers including the Ministers for Communications and Economic Affairs Division spoke on points of order for an hour and 12 minutes.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on December 10, 2019 (Tuesday) at 1600 hours.
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.