ISLAMABAD, January 15, 2019: The National Assembly did not take up 87% of the private members’ agenda on Tuesday amid the opposition’s protest and suspension of the proceedings, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during second sitting of the seventh session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for an hour and 54 minutes; however, the proceedings remained suspended for an hour and four minutes.
- The sitting started at 1139 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
- The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting in the absence of the Speaker.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 19 minutes. He was released from jail custody to attend the House proceedings on production orders issued by the Speaker.
- As many as 57 lawmakers (17%) were present at the outset and 46 (13%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PML-N and BAP attended the sitting.
- As many as five out of 10 minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- The House rejected a motion to introduce the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers Health (Amendment) Bill, 2019 while referred the Microfinance Institutions (Amendment) Bill, 2019 to the relevant committee. Both bills were moved by private members belonging to PTI.
- The House rejected a MMAP lawmaker’s motion to introduce the Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2019 with a majority of 96 votes against 94 votes cast in favour of the motion. On the opposition’s protest against the count, the Chair convened a meeting of the parliamentary leaders and later referred the bill to the relevant standing committee.
- The House did not address the remaining legislative and non-legislative business scheduled for the day.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Minister for Aviation responded to a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding closure of Pakistan International Airlines operation on Kuala Lumpur-Peshawar route. The notice was moved by PTI lawmakers.
Order and Institutionalization
- As many as three lawmakers raised Points of Order consuming 11 minutes.
- The opposition lawmakers staged a protest over the result of the voting on the Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2019. The protest led to the suspension of the proceedings for an hour and four minutes.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on January 16, 2019 (Wednesday) at 1100 hours.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of 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