Debate on AM Consumes 63 % of Senate Sitting

ISLAMABAD, January 19, 2016: The Senate consumed major part of sitting on Tuesday in debate on an adjournment motion (AM) about concern of two provinces on route of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Some key observations are as follows:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

  • The Senate met for four hours and sixteen minutes.
  • The sitting started five minutes late against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
  • Deputy Chairman presided over the sitting for 67 minutes while rest of the proceeding was chaired by a member of Panel of Chairpersons.
  • The House had a prayer break for 21 minutes.
  • The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting.
  • The Opposition Leader was present for 71 minutes.
  • Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
  • Eighteen (17%) senators were present at the start and at the time of adjournment.
  • Parliamentary leaders of PML-N, MQM, PkMAP, BNP-M and JUI-F were present.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House discussed an adjournment motion regarding concerns of the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan about the Western route of CPEC. Twenty-one lawmakers and the Chair spoke on it for 160 minutes.
  • The Chair did not admit an adjournment motion about arising of various questions after court decision to declare a video fake wherein a girl was flogged with whip in Swat valley.
  • Fourteen out of 17 starred questions appearing on the agenda were answered by the relevant departments while the Senators also raised 19 supplementary questions.
  • The House took up two Calling Attention Notices (CANs). The first notice was about production of expensive electricity at Nandipur Power Plant while other was regarding disconnection of power supply to WASA (Hyderabad) by Hyderabad Electricity Supply Company (HESCO). Both CANs were responded to by State Minister for Water and Power.

Transparency

  • ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.

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This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceeding conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted.