ISLAMABAD, March 06, 2013: Starting 35 minutes late, the 13th sitting of the National Assembly’s session adopted a resolution to demand action against “anchorpersons who are telecasting programmes against parliamentarians…without verification of the facts.”
The sitting which lasted for two hours and 42 minutes adopted the Resolution: “All anchorpersons who are telecasting programmes against parliamentarians and other entities without verification of the facts for some personal agendas or for some ulterior motives or for some unlawful gains or such anchorpersons who have been exposed for their non-professional conduct, this House strongly condemns such anchorpersons and demand from the owner of the media houses to expel them forthwith besides other due actions.”
The sitting witnessed low attendance of Members as only 35 were present at the outset of the sitting while 45 were there at the adjournment.
The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, along with the parliamentary leaders of the PMLF, PPPS, MMAP, ANP, PML and BNPA, did not attend the sitting.
Nineteen points of order consumed 108 minutes of the sitting time. None of the points of order attracted the chair’s formal ruling.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2013 was passed by the House.
Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 42 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1135 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1100 hours, witnessing a delay of 35 minutes.
- The Speaker chaired the sitting for an hour and 21 minutes; the Deputy Speaker 45 minutes; and the remaining time was presided over by a Member of Panel Chairpersons.
- The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- Only the parliamentary leaders of MQM and NPP attended the sitting while those of PMLF, PPPS, MMAP, ANP, PML and BNPA were absent.
- The chief whips of PPPP, PMLN, ANP and PML attended the sitting whereas those of MQM, MMAP, PMLF and BNPA were not present.
- Thirty-five members (10% of the total membership) were present at the outset while 45 (13%) were present at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 118 members were present at one point of sitting.
- Eight minority members attended the sitting.
- Seven members applied for leave.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Two Calling Attention Notices appearing the agenda were taken up by the House. These were directed to the Ministries of Interior, and Water and Power.
- Four out of 12 questions appearing on the agenda were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministries. Additionally, six supplementary questions were asked.
Output
- The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2013 was passed by the House.
- Two bills – the Pakistan Institute of Fashion Design (Amendment) Bill 2013 and the Surveying and Mapping Bill 2013 – were introduced and sent to the Standing Committees.
- The House adopted a Resolution: “All anchorpersons who are telecasting programmes against Parliamentarians and other entities without verification of the facts for some personal agendas or for some ulterior motives or for some unlawful gains or such anchorpersons who have been exposed for their non-professional conduct, this House strongly condemns such anchorpersons and demand from the owner of the media houses to expel them forthwith besides other due actions.”
- A Standing Committee report on the Anti-terrorism (Second Amendment) Bill 2013 was presented to the House.
Order and Institutionalization
- Nineteen points of order consumed 108 minutes of the sitting time.
- There were no instances of protests, boycotts and walkouts.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the 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