ISLAMABAD, March 15, 2017: The National Assembly did not take up its regular agenda on Wednesday and instead discussed matters related to the article of former ambassador Hussain Haqqani regarding his role in issuing visas to Americans, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.
The issue of quorum persisted even today, as the sitting had to be adjourned due to the lack of required strength of lawmakers in the House.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during eighth sitting of the 40th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 29 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1035 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for 35 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for an hour and six minutes.
- Twenty-four lawmakers (7%) were present at the outset and 65 (19%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, ANP, JI, APML, AMLP, QWP-S, PML-Z and BNP-A attended the sitting.
- Six minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- The House did not take up the committee reports appearing on the Orders of the Day.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding the pay scales of clerks while the other CAN was not addressed.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on 10 Points of Order consuming an hour and four minutes of the proceedings.
- A PPPP lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1303 hours that led to the adjournment of the sitting.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.
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.