ISLAMABAD, November 3, 2015: The Senate witnessed low attendance of lawmakers on Tuesday during the second sitting of its 121st session while the House debated two adjournment motions (AM) on LNG pricing and spurious drugs for more than half of sitting’s time, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

The House witnessed low attendance with only 14 (13%) legislators present at the start and 32 (31%) at the time of adjournment of the sitting.

Some key observations are as follows:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for three hours and 31 minutes.
• The sitting started two minutes late against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• Chairman presided over the sitting for 154 minutes while rest of the proceedings was chaired by a member of panel of chairpersons.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting.
• The Opposition Leader was not present.
• Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• Fourteen (13%) senators were present at the start and 32 (31%) at the time of adjournment.
• Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PML-N, PML, JI, JUI-F, PML-F, PkMAP, ANP, BNP-M, PTI and BNP-A were present
• Four minority members were present.
• Three members applied for leave.

Output

• Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights laid two Ordinances including The Foreigners (Amendment) Ordinance, and the National Database and Registration Authority (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015.
• The House witnessed presentation of three reports on the Islamabad Subordinate Judiciary Service Tribunal Bill 2015, Starred Question No. 45 dated September 16, 2011 about charging extra amount at time of delivery of Toyota vehicles by Indus Motor Company and Starred Question No. 1 dated December 13, 2012 regarding audit of accounts of Pakistan Steel Mills during the last five financial years.

Representation and Responsiveness

• On behalf of Chairman Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources, PTI male lawmaker moved a motion seeking extension of 30 working days in time for presentation of two reports on the issue of import of LNG in the country and four demands of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government which was passed by the House.
• Eleven out of 31 starred questions appearing on the agenda were answered by the relevant departments while the Senators also raised 28 supplementary questions.
• The House took up a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding unusual banking practice in Pakistan that was responded by the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources.
• Another CAN about suicide by a young girl in front of Police Station Saddar, Muzaffargarh was not taken up due to the absence of mover.
• An AM about failure of OGRA in fixing sale price of LNG was discussed and six lawmakers – PTI (2) and one each of PPPP, ANP, MQM and PML-N – spoke on it for 56 minutes. Chairman Senate spoke on it for two minutes and directed to submit the pricing details of LNG in the next sitting.
• Another AM about production of spurious and substandard medicines in the country was debated for 58 minutes by ten lawmakers including three from PML-N and one each from ANP, PkMAP, MQM, PTI, BNP-M, PPPP and PML.
• Two other AMs about recent earthquake on October 26, 2015 and millions of rupees withdrawn by officials of Capital Development Authority were disposed of.

Order and Institutionalization

• All opposition parties except BNP-M staged a walkout for four minutes for not disclosing the sale price of LNG.

Transparency

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

To download the press release, click here

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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