ISLAMABAD, February 15, 2016: The National Assembly took up most of its agenda except a motion and a Calling Attention Notice on Monday during first sitting of 29th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The National Assembly met for three hours and 58 minutes while taking 38-minutes long break for prayers.
- The sitting started at 1605 hours against its scheduled time of 1600 hours.
- The Speaker chaired the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
- The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for three hours and 45 minutes.
- Eight Federal Ministers attended the sitting.
- 53 MNAs (15%) were present at outset and 78 (23%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, JI, PML, QWP-S, BNP, ANP, JUI-F, APML and AMLP were present.
- Nine minority members were present.
Output
- The Minister for Climate Change and Human Rights laid before the House the Private Power and Infrastructure (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015 and the First Quarterly Report of the Central Board of Directors of the State Bank of Pakistan on the Pakistan’s economy.
- The House passed a resolution to extend the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015 for a further period of 120 days. Six lawmakers spoke on the resolution for five minutes.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The government orally responded to seven out of 37 starred questions appearing on the agenda. The lawmakers asked seven supplementary questions as well. Moreover, only 14 out of 42 unstarred questions were replied.
- The Parliamentary Secretary for Cabinet Secretariat replied to a Calling Attention Notice regarding non-provision of potable water in Sector G-11/4.
- The Leader of the Opposition spoke for 52 minutes on the Motion under Rule 259 regarding petroleum prices and implementation of the Pakistan Essential Services Act, 1952 in Pakistan International Airlines.
- The House also adopted a motion to suspend the regular agenda of tomorrow’s (Tuesday) sitting and discuss the above Motion under Rule 259.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on six Points of Order consuming 32 minutes of the proceeding.
- The entire Opposition except MQM staged walkout for ten minutes against killing of a PPPP worker in Azad Jammu & Kashmir.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The attendance of lawmakers is available on website of National Assembly.
To download the factsheet, click here for English version – click here for Urdu version
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceeding conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted.