Sitting No. 12 of Session No. 19 of the National Assembly held on Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Attendance remains to be an important matter of concern during the 12th sitting as well with only 19 legislators present at the start. The sitting started 25 minutes late and most of the agenda on the Orders of the Day was not discussed probably due to shortage of time, reports the Free and fair Election Network [FAFEN] in its Daily Factsheet on the National Assembly Proceedings.
The following are some key observations of the Parliamentary Business:
Members’ participation in House proceedings
- The National Assembly met for 2 hours and 46 minutes.
- The Twelfth sitting started at 1025 Hours against the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours. The House proceedings started late by 22 minutes.
- The Speaker and the Relevant Minister were present, while the Deputy Speaker remained absent during the sitting.
- The Prime Minister was present during the course of the sitting. However, Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- Parliamentary leader of PPPS was present while the leaders of PML, MQM, MMAP, ANP, BNPA and PMLF remained absent.
- 06 Members appealed for leave to be absent from the parliamentary sitting.
- A total of 19 members were present at the start of the sitting, while 90 members were present at the end of the sitting.
Representation and Responsiveness
- There were 2 Calling Attention Notices (CANs) on the Orders of the Day. The House took up both.
- The first Calling Attention Notice taken up by the House was directed to the Ministry of Health regarding ‘the flourishing of quackery in the country’. This CAN was raised by 3 members of PPPP and 1 member of PMLN.
- The other CAN, took up by the House was directed to the Ministry of Finance and Revenue and the Ministry of Planning and Development regarding ‘increase in the prices of items of daily use’. The CAN was raised by 5 PMLN members.
- There was no Question and Answer session as Tuesday’s session was a Private Members Day.
- There were 5 Resolutions listed on the Orders of the Day, which were not discussed during the course of the sitting.
Output
- There were six Private Members’ Bills on the Orders of the Day; However, the house only took up 3 Private Members’ Bills
- The first taken up Bill [The Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2010] was moved by a member of PMLN. The second Bill [The Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2010] was tabled by 1 member belonging to PPPP. 3 MNAs of ANP moved third Bill [The Prevention and Control of Women Trafficking Bill, 2010].
Order and institutionalization
- 26 Points of Order were raised. However, none of them required Speaker’s ruling.
- The House continued debating admitted Adjournment Motion on “construction of water reservoirs by India on rivers in violation of Indus Basin Water Treaty”. The House debated the issue for 55 minutes.
- There was no instance of protest during the eleventh sitting.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day was available to legislators, observers and others.
- Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
- The Quorum was visibly lacking at various stages during the sitting. However, lack of quorum was not pointed out by any of the members of National Assembly.
The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a member organization of FAFEN