ISLAMABAD, May 8, 2018: The National Assembly passed two government and nine private members’ bills on Tuesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during the sixth sitting of the 56th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 56 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1037 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 13 minutes while the rest of the proceedings were chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition was not present.
- As many as 40 lawmakers (12%) were present at the outset and 35 (10%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, APML, PPPP and JI attended the sitting.
- Six minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- The House passed nine private members’ bills which were the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2018; the National Civic Education Commission Bill, 2018; the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2018; the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Amendment) Bill, 2018; the Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (Amendment) Bill, 2017; the Acid and Burn Crime Bill, 2017; the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (section 173), the Islamabad Capital Territory Prohibition of Employment of Children Bill, 2017 and the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (section 510).
- Moved by Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training, the House passed the Institute of Science and Technology Bahawalpur Bill, 2018 and the Sir Syed (Centre for Advanced Studies in Engineering) Institute of Technology Islamabad Bill, 2016 after presentation of their reports.
- The House adopted a resolution with majority vote to extend the Capital Development Authority (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 for a further period of 120 days with effect from May 10, 2018.
- Six private members bills were referred to the relevant committees which included the Pakistan Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2018; the Tour Operators and Travel Agents (Regulation) Bill, 2018; the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2018; the Factories (Amendment) Bill, 2018 and two identical Constitutional bills seeking amendments in Articles 51 and 106.
- Four bills could not be introduced in the House due to absence of movers while five other private members’ bills appearing on the agenda for passage were also not considered.
- The House did not take up motions for presentation of reports on various bills.
Order and Institutionalization
- Sixteen lawmakers spoke on as many points of order consuming 38 minutes of the proceedings.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- 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.