ISLAMABAD, January 16, 2019: The National Assembly consumed nearly two thirds (63%) of its proceedings discussing political issues through Points of Order on Wednesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during third sitting of the seventh session:
Members’ Participation
- The Assembly met for two hours and 57 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1109 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not present.
- The Leader of House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 21 minutes.
- As many as 48 lawmakers (14%) were present at the outset and 81 (24%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PML-N, BAP, MMAP and PPPP attended the sitting.
- As many as six out of 10 minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- The Parliamentary Secretary for Law and Justice introduced the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019. The bill provides for allocation of a seat in the National Assembly reserved for women from Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). The bill was referred to the relevant committee for further consideration.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The government answered eight out of 30 Starred Questions while the remaining 22 questions were not taken up. These questions were addressed to the Ministries of Climate Change; Railways, Federal Education and Professional Training; Information and Broadcasting; Information Technology and Telecommunication and Aviation Division, Cabinet Division and Establishment Division. The lawmakers asked 18 supplementary questions as well.
- The Minister for Aviation responded to a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding closure of Swat airport.
- The House did not consider a CAN regarding delay in the payment of pensions to the employees of Pakistan Steel Mills.
- A Motion of Thanks to the President for his address to the Parliament on September 17, 2018 was not addressed.
- The Chair referred a Privilege Motion of an MMAP lawmaker to the relevant committee.
Order and Institutionalization
- As many as 22 lawmakers raised Points of Order consuming an hour and 51 minutes of the proceedings. Most of these Pos related to the political issues, agricultural sector and 18th Constitutional Amendment.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on January 17, 2019 (Thursday) at 1100 hours.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of lawmakers is available on the National Assembly’s website
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