ISLAMABAD, October 26, 2020: The Senate passed three private members’ bills on Monday and adopted a resolution to condemn comments of French President Emmanuel Macron about Islam, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in the Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during the 6th sitting of 304th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Senate met for three hours and 26 minutes, however, the proceedings remained suspended for eight minutes due to prayer break.
- The sitting started at 1603 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
- The Chairman presided over the entire proceedings.
- The Deputy Chairman was not present.
- The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting.
- The Opposition Leader did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 25 lawmakers (24%) were present at the outset and 14 (13%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PTI, PML-N, PPPP, MQM, ANP and JI attended the sitting.
- Two minority lawmakers was present.
Output
- The House adopted a resolution to condemn publication of blasphemous caricatures in France and comments of French President Emmanuel Macron about Islam. The resolution was tabled by the Leader of the House.
- Tabled by a PPPP lawmaker, the House unanimously adopted another resolution to express solidarity with people of Occupied Kashmir and also condemned Indian illegal occupation on the region.
- Five other resolutions appearing on the agenda remained unaddressed.
- The House referred 17 Private Members’ Bills to Committees for further consideration. These bills were the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Bill, 2020; the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Insertion of new Section 297A); the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020] (Amendment of Article 93 and Third Schedule); the Enforcement of Women’s Property Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Federal Public Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020] (Amendment of Article 213); the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020] (Amendment of Articles 213 and 215); the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Fatal Accidents (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the International Islamic University (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Substitution of sections 376 and 377 of PPC and Substitution of Sections 265-M, 381 and amendment of section 411-A, and schedule II of CrPC); the Anti-terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Islamabad Capital Territory Trust (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Enforcement of Women’s Property Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Muslim Family Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
- Seven other bills on the agenda were deferred on the request of relevant movers while one was withdrawn.
- The House did not consider two other bills appearing on the agenda due to early adjournment of the sitting.
- The House passed three private members’ bills which were the Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Press Council of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Five motions under Rule 218 were not taken up.
Order and Institutionalization
- The entire opposition staged a walkout at 1925 against a legislative proposal related to journalists working in electronic media. Its lawmakers did not return to the House till adjournment of sitting.
- A JUI-F lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1926 hours following which the Chair ordered the bells to be rung for two minutes. The quorum was found incomplete upon counting and the House was adjourned to meet again on October 29, 2020 (Thursday) at 1030 hours.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted