ISLAMABAD, February 17, 2020: The Senate’s 295th session was prorogued sine die on Monday due to lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 23rd sitting of the 295th session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for an hour and 34 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1603 against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
- The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
- The Deputy Chairman was also present.
- The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and 30 minutes.
- Eleven lawmakers (10%) were present at the outset and 13 (12%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PTI, PML-N, ANP, MQM, PkMAP and PPPP attended the sitting.
- Two out of four minority lawmakers were present.
Output.
- Chairman Standing Committee on Petroleum presented report of the Committee on a point of public importance regarding non-installation of Air Mix Plants in Balochistan.
- Three bills including the Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2020, the Islamabad Consumers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Anti-terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2020 were referred to the relevant committees after their introduction in the House.
- Another bill – the Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2020 – was also referred to the relevant committee. However, the Chair directed to club this bill with another identical legislative proposal received from the National Assembly.
- The Chair deferred the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Amendment of Article 198).
- The House adopted three resolutions demanding the government to construct an Interchange and road to connect Abbottabad city to Hazara Motorway (M-15), take effective steps to highlight the Palestine issue and place the inquiry report of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) about current wheat crisis before the Senate of Pakistan.
- A resolution demanding the government to introduce a Group Insurance Scheme for government employees was referred to the relevant committee.
- Two resolutions on the agenda were deferred on the request o movers which demanded to prepare a National Transport Policy for National Highways and Motorways and give relaxation in age for posting as Community Welfare Attachee in Pakistan Missions abroad.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Six motions under Rule 218 were not taken up in the House due to early prorogation of session over lack of quorum.
- Jointly sponsored by a PML-N and an Independent lawmaker, the House debated an adjournment motion regarding negotiations of the government economic team with International Monetary Fund (IMF). Nine lawmakers including the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs spoke on it for 39 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- Five lawmakers including the Leader of the Opposition spoke on Points of Order (POs) for 11 minutes. These POs were regarding non-presentation of FIA report about wheat crisis in the House and the opposition also staged a token walkout from the proceedings on the same issue.
- The opposition staged another walk out from the proceedings at 1732 hours against the absence of relevant minister in the House to respond the adjournment motion. They did not return to the House till prorogation of the session at 1737 hours.
- A PPPP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1734 hours following which the Chair ordered the bells to be rung for two minutes. The quorum was found incomplete upon counting and the Chair announced to prorogue the session sine die.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The attendance of lawmakers is available on the website.
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