ISLAMABAD, November 30, 2016: The National Assembly passed the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Bill, 2016 amid boycott by Opposition parties on Wednesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.
The House also adopted a supplementary resolution offering its condolences to People of Cuba on demise of former President Fiedel Castro.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during last (9th) sitting of the 37th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 37 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1038 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 47 minutes while rest of the proceedings was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- Fifty lawmakers (14%) were present at outset and 41 (12%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, QWP-S, APML and ANP attended the sitting.
- Four minority members were present.
Output
- Tabled by Minister for Law, the House passed the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Bill, 2016, the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Public Private Partnership Authority Bill, 2016.
- The House unanimously adopted two supplementary resolutions to condemn Indian aggression and express grief over demise and former President of Cuba, Fidel Castro.
- The Standing Committees on Foreign Affairs, Interior & Narcotics Control and Planning, Development and Reforms presented their periodical reports.
- Moved by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House adopted four motions to amend the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of National Assembly.
Representation and Responsiveness
- A Motion of Thanks to the President of Pakistan for his address to the Parliament was not taken up.
- As many as 15 out of 41 Starred Questions were responded to by the government. The lawmakers also asked 22 Supplementary Questions
- The House took up a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding excessive markup charged by commercial banks on agriculture and commercial loans while another CAN on imposition of different rates of gas charges on the textile sector remained unaddressed due to absence of the movers.
- Four lawmakers spoke on matters of public interest other than Points of Order under Rule 18 consuming nine minutes of the sitting time.
Order and Institutionalization
- The Opposition parties boycotted the proceedings of the House from 1215 hours to 1255 hours against the passage of the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Bill, 2016.
- A lawmaker belonging to PPPP pointed out quorum at 1155 hours. However, it was found complete and the proceedings resumed after five minutes.
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.