ISLAMABAD, September 16, 2019: The National Assembly transacted its entire agenda amid low attendance of lawmakers in the House on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in the Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during second sitting of the 14th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 16 minutes, however , the proceedings remained suspended for 29 minutes due to prayer break.
- The sitting started at 1722 hours against the scheduled time of 1700 hours.
- The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting in the absence of Speaker.
- The Leaders of the House (Prime Minister) and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 42 (12%) were present at the outset and 61 (18%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- Parliamentary Leaders of BAP and AMLP attended the sitting.
- As many as five out of 10 minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- On behalf of Chairman Standing Committee on Law and Justice, a member of the Committee presented reports on the Letters of Administration and Succession Certificates Bill, 2019, the Legal Aid and Justice Authority Bill, 2019 and the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
- Chairman Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs presented reports of the Committee on the Foreign Exchange Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2019 an the Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
- Parliamentary Secretary for Finance presented the third Quarterly Report of the Board of Directors of State Bank of Pakistan on the state of the Economy for the year 2018-19, Biannual monitoring report on the implementation of 7th NFC Award for the period from January to June, 2018 and the Special/ Performance / Study Audit Reports of the Auditor General for the Audit year 2018- 19.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up nine out of 32 starred questions while lawmakers asked 16 supplementary questions as well.
- Parliamentary Secretaries for Federal Education and Professional Training and Industries and Production responded two Calling Attention Notices regarding problems to students who were not granted admission in colleges or Schools of Islamabad and increase in the prices of essential commodities at Utility Stores.
Order and Institutionalization
- Four lawmakers spoke on points of orders for nine minutes which were related to political and economic issues.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on September 17, 2019 (Tuesday) at 1000 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.