ISLAMABAD, August 17, 2016: The National Assembly adopted a motion on Wednesday setting up a Parliamentary Committee to consider amendments in National Accountability Act, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during last (13th) sitting of National Assembly’s 34th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for an hour and 45 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1033 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not present.
- The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- Twenty-one lawmakers (6%) were present at outset while 116 (34%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PkMAP, ANP, APML and AMLP attended the proceedings.
- All minority members were present.
Output
- Moved by Minister for Law and Justice, the House adopted a motion to set up a 20-member Parliamentary Committee on Amendments Proposed in National Accountability Act.
- The House also adopted a motion to grant extension to the Sub-Committee of Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms for presentation of its report.
- Chairman Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization presented the report of the committee on the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Bill, 2016.
- Chairman Standing Committee on Defence presented the report of the committee on the National Command Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
- Chairman Standing Committee on Law and Justice presented the report of the committee on the Hindu Marriage Bill, 2016.
- Chairman Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research presented the report of the committee on the Plant Breeders’ Rights Bill, 2015.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up nine out of 33 Starred Questions during Question Hour. The lawmakers also asked 18 Supplementary Questions.
- The House took up two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) regarding land grabbing in District Tharparkar and corruption in FATA.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers raised five Points of Order consuming ten minutes of the proceedings.
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.