ISLAMABAD, February 20, 2013: Starting an hour and 25 minutes late, the third sitting of the ongoing 50th National Assembly session continued to witness low attendance of Members. Only 63 were present at the outset while 27 were there at the adjournment.
The Anti-terrorism (Amendment) Bill 2013 was unanimously passed by the House.
Five Members – two PPPP, one each PMLN and ANP – spoke on the Motion under Rule 259 about law and order in the country for 35 minutes.
Ten Points of Order consumed 115 minutes of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling. Unless the Chair gives a formal ruling on a Point of Order, it does not lead to any Assembly Output.
Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 40 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1825 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1700 hours, witnessing a delay of an hour and 25 minutes.
- The Speaker chaired the sitting for 50 minutes; the Deputy Speaker chaired for 95 minutes; and the remaining time was presided over by a Member of Panel of Chairpersons
- The Prime Minister was not present while the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 97 minutes.
- Only the parliamentary leaders of NPP, PPPS and MQM were present while those of MMAP, ANP, PML, PMLF and BNPA were absent.
- The chief whips of PPPP and ANP attended the sitting while those of PMLN, MQM, MMAP, PML and PMLF remained absent.
- Sixty-three Members were present at the outset while 27 were there at the adjournment. A maximum of 178 members were present at one point of the sitting.
- Nine minority members attended the sitting.
- Six members applied for leave.
Representation and Responsiveness
- A Calling Attention Notice about rapid increase of robberies in Islamabad, particularly in Sector G-6, was taken up by the House.
- Five Members – two PPPP, one each PMLN and ANP – spoke on the Motion under Rule 259 about law and order in the country for 35 minutes.
Output
- The Anti-terrorism (Amendment) Bill 2013 was unanimously passed by the House. The Rulers of Acceding States (Abolition of Privy Purses and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill, 2013 was introduced and sent to the Standing Committee.
- A Standing Committee report on the Capital University of Sciences and Technology Bill 2012 was not taken up.
Order and Institutionalization
- Ten Points of Order consumed 115 minutes of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling. Unless the Chair gives a formal ruling on a Point of Order, it does not lead to any Assembly Output.
- There were no instances of protests, walkouts or boycotts
Transparency
- Orders of the Day were 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