ISLAMABAD, October 3, 2017: The National Assembly deferred 70% of the private members’ agenda on Tuesday and consumed more than half of the proceedings (52%) in discussing Points of Order, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during second sitting of the 47th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 41 minutes while the proceedings remained suspended for 29 minutes due to prayer break.
- The sitting started at 1717 hours against the scheduled time of 1700 hours.
- The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting as the Speaker was not present.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition was present for 23 minutes.
- As many as 48 (14%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 51 (15%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, JI, ANP and AMLP attended the sitting.
- Six minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- The private lawmakers introduced the Right to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Amendment in Article 51 and 106) and the General Statistics (Reorganization) (Amendment) Bill, 2017. The House referred the bills to the relevant committees.
- The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Amendment in Article 51 and 59) and the West Pakistan Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2017 were dropped due to absence of the concerned lawmakers.
- Chairman Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat presented the reports of the committee on the Compulsory Education of Arabic Bill, 2015, the Right to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the National Air Transportation Safety Board Bill, 2014 and the Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2017. The House condoned the delay in presentation of these reports.
- Chairman Standing Committee on Interior presented the reports of the committee on the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2014 (Moved by a female lawmaker of MQM), the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Moved by a male lawmaker of MQM), the Births, Deaths and Marriages (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (Moved by a male lawmaker of MQM), and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Moved by a female lawmaker of PPPP).
- The House deferred the motions for consideration and passage of three private members’ bills and five private members’ resolutions.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up a Calling Attention Notice regarding closure of internet service in various districts of Balochistan.
- The House deferred the discussion on five Motions under Rule 259 and a Calling Attention Notices appearing on Orders of the Day.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers raised 27 Points of Order (POs) consuming an hour and nine minutes of the proceedings.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Information on Members’ attendance is available on the National Assembly website.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly’s proceedings, conducted by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted