ISLAMABAD, October 1, 2019: The National Assembly took up most of the Private Members’ bills on Tuesday and left the resolutions, motions and amendments in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business unaddressed, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during second sitting of the 15th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 18 minutes; however, the proceedings remained suspended for 16 minutes due to lack of quorum.
- The sitting started at 1118 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for 19 minutes while a member of Panel of Chairperson chaired rest of the sitting.
- The Deputy Speaker has been de-seated following decision of an election tribunal of the Balochistan High Court. As per Rule 11 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in National Assembly 2007, an election to the vacant office of Speaker of Deputy Speaker will be held as soon as possible during the session if the Assembly is in session and at commencement of its next session if the Assembly is not in session.
- The Leaders of the House (Prime Minister) and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 47 (14%) were present at the outset and 1083 (32%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of GDA, PML-N, MMAP, ANP, MQM and AMLP attended the sitting.
- Seven out of 10 minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- The House witnessed introduction of nine private members’ bills which were referred to the concerned Standing Committees for further consideration. These bills were the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Article 179); the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority Bill, 2019; the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Islamabad Rent Restriction (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Prevention of Smuggling of Migrants (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (section 325), the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019] (Article 239) and the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019] (Article 31).
- The House rejected two bills including the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Article 41 and 91) and the Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
- Two other legislative proposal including the Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019] (Article 27) were deferred due to the absence of relevant lawmakers.
- A total of 32 bills of a PTI lawmaker were clubbed together and considered to be introduced in the House, as the member later chaired the session. These bills were the Recognition and Enforcement (Arbitration Agreements and Foreign Arbitral Awards (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) (Amendment), Bill, 2019; the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Pakistan Postal Services Management Board (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Protection Against Harassment of women at the Workplace (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Protection of Communal Properties of Minorities (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Islamabad Consumers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Pakistan Environmental Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers Health (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Islamabad Capital Territory Private Educational Institutions (Registration and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the National Insurance Corporation (Reorganization) (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan (Reorganization and Conversion) (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Islamabad Capital Territory Shops, Business and Industrial Establishments (Security) (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Electronic Transactions (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Press Council of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Associated Press of Pakistan Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Terrorist Affected Areas (Special Court) (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Banking Companies (Recovery of Loans, Advances, Credits and Finances) (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Anti-Dumping Duties (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Defamation (Amendment) Bill, 2019;the Regional Development Finance Corporation and Small Business Finance Corporation (Amalgamation and Conversion) (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan (Re-organization and Conversion) (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Financial Institutions (Recovery of Finances) (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Trade Organizations (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Islamabad Consumers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the General Statistics (Reorganization) (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Federal Ombudsmen Institutional Reforms (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the Export Development Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
- Fifteen Private Members’ bills, seven reports of the Standing Committees, amendments in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, five resolutions and as many motions under Rule 259 on the agenda were not considered.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Parliamentary Secretaries for Interior and National Food Security and Research responded to Calling Attention Notices about problems being faced by the residents of Islamabad in the issuance of Domicile and reduction of the price of Citrus by Rs. 250 per mound.
Order and Institutionalization
- Three lawmakers spoke on points of order for five minutes and welcomed the Parliamentary delegation of Malaysia witnessing the proceedings from gallery.
- The entire opposition staged a token walk out from the proceedings against reservations on Private Members’ agenda.
- A PML-N lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1157 hours which led to the suspension of the proceedings for 16 minutes.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on October 2, 2019 (Wednesday) at 1100 hours.
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 direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted