ISLAMABAD, March 20, 2017: The National Assembly debated the Constitutional Amendment Bill relating to military courts on Monday while deferring its consideration and passage for a later sitting, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during 11th sitting of the 40th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for four hours and 57 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1604 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting except for 43 minutes when the Deputy Speaker chaired the proceedings.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for two and a half hours.
- Thirty-one lawmakers (9%) were present at the outset and 17 (5%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PkMAP, ANP, JI, PML, AMLP, APML, QWP-S and PML-Z attended the sitting.
- Nine minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- Parliamentary Secretary for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization introduced the Auditor-General’s (Functions, Powers and Terms and Conditions of Service) (Amendment) Bill, 2017. The House referred the bill to the relevant standing committee.
- Minister for Law and Justice moved for consideration of the Constitution (Twenty-eighth Amendment) Bill, 2017. Ten lawmakers including the mover discussed the bill for two hours and 42 minutes.
- The House did not take up the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Bill, 2017 and the Public Private Partnership Authority Bill, 2017
- The House adopted a motion to suspend the Private Members’ business in the sitting to be held tomorrow (Tuesday).
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as 14 out of 34 Starred Questions were taken up during the Question Hour while the lawmakers asked 30 supplementary questions as well.
- The House took up a Calling Attention Notices regarding closure of PESCO Transformers Repair Workshop while another CAN was not addressed.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on three Points of Order consuming 12 minutes of the proceedings.
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.