Senate has already passed the much-debated bill by suggesting various amendments

ISLAMABAD, August 11, 2016: The National Assembly on Thursday witnessed the passage of three government bills, including the much-debated Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill, 2016 in the absence of Leader of the House and Leader of the Opposition, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during ninth sitting of NA’s 34^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for four hours and 18 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1034 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and 53 minutes while the rest of the proceedings were chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• Twenty-six lawmakers (8%) were present at outset while 29 (9%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, QWP-S, ANP and APML attended the proceedings.
• Ten minority members were present.
• Twenty-three members applied for leave.

Output

• The Minister for Finance laid the Income Tax (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016.
• Tabled by the State Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication, the House passed the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill, 2016 with majority votes amid protest by the opposition parties. Ten lawmakers spoke on the bill for 30 minutes.
• Tabled by the Federal Minister for Science and Technology, the House unanimously passed the Pakistan Engineering Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
• The State Minister for Water and Power presented the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (Amendment) Bill, 2016 which was unanimously passed by the House.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up seven out of 33 Starred Questions appearing on the agenda. The lawmakers also asked 11 Supplementary Questions.
• Two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) regarding nonpayment of teachers and staff salaries of Federal Urdu University, Islamabad and non-construction of four-lane Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway as per planned formula were taken up and responded to by the relevant Ministers.
• The House did not take up Motion of Thanks to the President for his address to the Parliament.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on 16 Points of Order consuming one hour and 42 minutes of the sitting.

Transparency

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

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