ISLAMABAD, August 13, 2020: The Senate on Thursday referred five government bills to the relevant committees, which were related to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and were given approval by the National Assembly a day earlier, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during the first sitting of 302nd session:
Members’ Participation
- The Senate met for two hours and 25 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1626 hours against the scheduled time of 1800 hours.
- The Chairman presided over the entire proceedings.
- The Deputy Chairman was not present.
- The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition was present for three hours and ten minutes.
- The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 46 lawmakers (44%) were present at the outset and 14 (13%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PML-N, JI, ANP, PTI, BNP-M, PkAMAP, JUI-F, MQM and PPPP attended the sitting.
- Two minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- The House referred five government bills to the relevant committees which were the Anti-terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Islamabad Capital Territory Trust Bill, 2020; the Limited Liability Partnership (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Control of Narcotic Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
- The House passed two separate motions for immediate consideration of the government bills on the agenda and to suspend the question hour for August 13, 2020.
- The House passed seven motions under Rule 194 (1) granting 60-day extension to Standing Committee on Law and Justice with effect from August 15, 2020 for presentation of reports on five bills as well as a point of public importance and to Standing Committee on Climate Change with effect from August 6, 2020 for presentation of report on a bill.
- Convener Special Committee on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) presented report of the Special Committee on a starred question regarding the complete details of the short and long term development projects proposed for Malakand division.
- Chairman Functional Committee on Problems of Less Developed Areas presented report of the Committee regarding the visit of the committee to Districts Karak, Lakki Marwat and Tank of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
- Chairman, Standing Committee on Power presented reports of the Committee on Points of Public Importance regarding effects of Thar Coal Project on local people and policies related to renewable sources of energy.
- Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs presented the Second and Third Quarterly reports for the Financial Year 2019-20, of the Board of Directors of the State Bank of Pakistan on the state of Pakistan’s Economy.
Representation and Responsiveness
- An MQM lawmaker spoke on a point of public importance for 13 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- Seventeen Senators spoke on points of order for an hour and 38 minutes.
- JUI-F lawmakers walked out of the House at 2036 hours against pelting stones at PML-N Vice President vehicle outside the National Accountability Bureau office in Lahore a day earlier. Later, other opposition parties also joined the walkout and did not return to the House till adjournment of the sitting.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on August 17, 2020 (Monday) at 1700 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