ISLAMABAD, March 1, 2013: Starting 40 minutes late, the 10th sitting of ongoing 50th session which met for an hour and six minutes on Friday left most of the agenda unaddressed.
The sitting also witnessed low attendance as 57 legislators were present at the start while 35 were there at the adjournment. The house left a bill, a motion under rule 259, a standing committee report and a calling attention notice unaddressed.
The Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the parliamentary leaders of MQM, MMAP, ANP, PML, PMLF, PPPS, and NPP did not attend the sitting.
The MQM and PMLN legislators staged two separate walkouts over the increase in the prices of petroleum products.
Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The National Assembly met for an hour and six minutes.
- The sitting started at 1140 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1100 hours, witnessing a delay of 40 minutes.
- The Speaker chaired the sitting for 26 minutes while the remaining time was presided over by a member of the Panel of Chairpersons.
- The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- None of the parliamentary leaders except BNPA (single member party) attended the sitting.
- Only the chief whips of PPPP and PML were present.
- Fifty-seven (16%) members were present at the outset while 35 (10%) were there at the end. A maximum of 88 (26%) members were present at one point of sitting.
- Six minority members attended the sitting.
- Six members applied for leave.
Representation and Responsiveness
- A Calling Attention Notice regarding thousands of professional beggary in the Capital Territory of Islamabad was taken up by the House.
- Four out of 18 questions were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministries. Additionally, nine supplementary questions were asked.
Output
- The Constitution (Twenty-third Amendment) Bill 2012 was not taken up by the House.
Order and Institutionalization
- Seven Points of Order consumed eight minutes of the sitting’s time.
- The MQM and PMLN legislators staged two separate walkouts over the increase in prices of petroleum products.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day was available to legislators, observers and others.
- Information on members’ attendance was not available to observers and the public.
The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI); a member organization of FAFEN