ISLAMABAD, March 9, 2017: The Senate passed three government bills and discussed the annual report of Council of Common Interests on Thursday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House business during 5^th sitting of 260^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for three hours.
•  The sitting started three minutes late against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• Deputy Chairman was also present.
• Leader of the House attended the sitting for two hours and 33 minutes while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 54 minutes.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, PML-F, PTI, JUI-F, MQM, NP, ANP, JI and PML attended the sitting.
• Fifteen (14%) lawmakers were present at the start and nine (8%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• All minority legislators (4) attended the proceedings.

 Output

• The House passed three government bills namely the Public Private Partnership Authority Bill, 2016; the Pakistan Council for Science and Technology Bill, 2016 and the Pakistan National Accreditation Council Bill, 2016.
• On behalf of Convener Special Committee on the performance of PIA, a PML-F lawmaker presented second interim report regarding overall performance of PIA and on the matter pertaining to the aircrafts obtained by PIA on wet lease from Turkey.
• On behalf of Chairperson Functional Committee on Human Rights, a NP lawmaker presented the committee report regarding torture on a domestic servant minor girl, Tayyaba.
• The House passed motions under Rule 166(3) to withdraw seven Private Members bills from the relevant committees.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House extended the time period for presentation of four committee reports under Rule 194 (1).
• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) regarding impact of Economic Coordination Committee’s decision to allow wheat export in dollars and excessive billing by K-Electric Company.
• The House took up 30 Starred Questions appearing on the agenda. In addition, lawmakers asked 14 Supplementary Questions.
• Seven lawmakers including the Chairman discussed the Annual Report of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) for the year 2015-2016 for 56 minutes.

 Order and Institutionalization

• One Point of Public Importance was discussed for two minutes.

 Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers is available on the website.

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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