- Session Prorogued
ISLAMABAD, August 21, 2019: The Punjab Assembly on Wednesday adopted a supplementary resolution condemning Indian move to change the special status of Indian Held Kashmir (IHK), observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the single-sitting 13th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Punjab Assembly met for three hours and 51 minutes, while the sitting remained suspended for 20 minutes due to lack of quorum.
- The sitting started at 1100 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
- The Deputy speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and 34 minutes while the rest of the sitting was chaired by a member of panel of chairpersons.
- The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 64 MPAs (17%) were present at the outset and 65 (18%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leader of PPPP attended the proceedings.
- Six out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output:
- Moved by the Minister for Law, the House unanimously adopted a supplementary resolution regarding Indian aggression on Kashmir and revoking of Article 35A and 370 from its constitution.
- The House did not take up the Punjab Aab-e-Pak Authority (Amendment) Ordinance 2019, appearing on agenda.
- The House held general discussion on Kashmir issue. As many as nine lawmakers participated in it for an hour and six minutes.
- The House also held general discussion on law and order situation in the province. A lawmaker belonging to PML-N spoke for six minutes.
- The general discussion on price control was not held due to lack of quorum.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering responded to 12 out of 25 starred questions. Another three questions were disposed of due to absence of the movers and one was deferred. The lawmakers asked 24 supplementary questions as well.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on six points of order consuming 12 minutes of the proceedings.
- The opposition and treasury lawmakers protested on four occasions against derogatory remarks about their leadership during general discussion on Kashmir issue. These protests consumed 24 minutes of the proceedings.
- A PTI lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1424 hours that led to suspension of proceedings for 20 minutes and later adjournment of sitting.
- The session was prorogued sine die.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on Punjab Assembly’s website.
- Information on Members’ attendance is available on Punjab Assembly’s website.
The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted