ISLAMABAD, June 17, 2013: The 4th sitting of the ongoing 95th Senate session witnessed low attendance as Senators continued to debate the Annual Budget Statement. Only six senators were present at the start while 17 were there at the adjournment.
Senators showed less interest in the budgetary proposals as only four senators – two PPPP, one PML and an Independent – spoke on the annual budget statement for 60 minutes.
The Federal Minister for Interior briefed the house on the two incidents which took place in Quetta – Bolan Medical College, Quetta and Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah\’s residency, Ziarat – on June 15th 2013. He addressed the house for 45 minutes.
Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Senate met for two hours and 47 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1635 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1600 hours, witnessing a delay of 35 minutes.
- The Chairman chaired the entire sitting. The Deputy Chairman was also present.
- The parliamentary leaders of ANP, MQM and PMLF attended the sitting while those of JUIF, PML, BNPA and NP remained absent.
- Six senators (6% of the total membership – 104) were present at the outset while 17 (17%) were there at the time of adjournment.
- Five senators applied for leave.
Representation and Responsiveness
· Four Senators – two PPPP, one PML and an Independent – spoke on the annual budget statement for 60 minutes.
· The Federal Minister for Interior briefed the house on the two incidents which took place in Quetta – Bolan Medical College, Quetta and Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah\’s residency, Ziarat – on the June 15th 2013. He addressed the house for 45 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
· Eleven points of order were raised which consumed 20 minutes (12% of the sitting time). None of the points of order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- Information on senators’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a member organization of FAFEN