ISLAMABAD, June 5, 2020: The Senate took up its entire agenda on Friday and adopted a supplementary resolution to condemn violation of human rights in Indian Occupied Kashmir, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during first sitting of the 299th session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for an hour and 20 minutes.
- The sitting started at its scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
- The Deputy Chairman was not present.
- The Leader of the House attended the sitting for an hour and 15 minutes.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
- Twenty-one lawmakers (20%) were present at the outset and 31 (30%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of JUI-F, PML-N, PkMAP and JI attended the sitting.
- One out of four minority lawmakers was present.
Output
- Advisor to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affair laid a copy of the Money Bill, the Members of Parliament (Salaries and Allowances) (Amendment) Bill, 2020. The Chairman asked the members to forward their recommendations on the bill till June 8, 2020 while report on this bill would be presented in the House within ten days by the relevant committee.
- Advisor to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affair laid the Annual Report, Post-Election Review, Report on General Elections-2018 of the Election Commission of Pakistan.
- Tabled by the Leader of the Opposition, the House unanimously adopted a supplementary resolution to condemn Indian atrocities in Occupied Kashmir and its illegal incursions into Chinese territory.
- On behalf of Chairman Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat, a member of the Committee presented reports on two starred questions and a point of public importance.
- On behalf Convener Senate Implementation Committee, a member of the Committee presented report on a point of public importance about charging of holidays’ fee by private educational institutions.
- A report of Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs on the Money Bill – the Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019 – was presented in the House while recommendations of the Committee on this bill were also adopted.
- A report of the Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions regarding the number of refugees residing in the country was also presented.
- The House considered and adopted report of the Standing Committee on Power about review of tariff, capacity charges, heat rates and calculation of pay-back period of IPPs.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up 11 out of 19 starred questions while the remaining questions were not considered due to the absence of lawmakers. In addition, the lawmakers asked 22 supplementary questions.
Order and Institutionalization
- Two lawmakers belonging to JI and PML-N spoke on as many points of order for three minutes.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on June 8, 2020 (Monday) at 1600 hours.
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