ISLAMABAD, March 2, 2011:  The National Assembly suspended the regular agenda due to the tragic death of the Federal Minister for Minorities in a terrorist attack. The House only met for 11 minutes, with relatively better attendance of Members. There were 143 present on the outset of the sitting, while 148 were present when the sitting was adjourned.

The Leader of the Opposition, along with other Parliamentary Party Heads did not attend the sitting.

The National Assembly would meet at 1000 on March 3, 2011. Following are some key observations of the Parliamentary Business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for 11 minutes.
• The eighth sitting started at 1738 Hours against the scheduled starting time of 1700 hours. The House proceedings started late by 38 minutes.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting. The Deputy Speaker was also present during the sitting.
• The Prime Minister was present during the sitting, while the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the proceedings of the eighth sitting.
• None of the Parliamentary Party Leaders were present during the sitting.
• The Chief Whips of PPPP, PMLN, PML and BNPA were present, while the chief whips of ANP, MQM, MMAP, PMLF and NPP were absent.
• A total of 143 (42%) Members were present at the outset of the sitting, while 148 (43%) Members were present at the end of the sitting.
• A total of four out of 10 minority Members were present during the 8th sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• There were two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) on the Orders of the Day. Both the CANs were not taken up by the House.

Output

• There were two bills on the Orders of the Day, but were not taken up due to the tragic dead of the Federal Minister for Minorities.

Order and Institutionalization

• A total of three Points of Order were raised, consuming eight minutes of the sitting time. The subject of these Points of Order was the tragic incident, in which the Federal Minister was killed.
• There was one Motion Under Rule 259 on the Orders of the Day regarding the “the prevailing Law and Order situation in the country”, which was not debated upon during the course of the sitting.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts and walkouts during the course of the sitting.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a member organization of FAFEN