ISLAMABAD, May 12, 2015: The Senate continued to witness low attendance on Tuesday as 20 lawmakers (19%) were present at the start of the sitting and 32 (31%) at the time of adjournment, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Four lawmakers discussed the annual report on the observance and implementation of the federation’s principles of policy in 2011-2012 for 34 minutes. The discussion was wrapped up by the State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, who spoke for another 16 minutes.

The House passed a motion to constitute a Special Committee for review of proposed changes in the Pak-China Economic Corridor.

The House also took up a calling attention notice (CAN) sponsored by a PPPP lawmaker regarding delay in announcement of the eighth NFC Award. However, another CAN moved by an ANP lawmaker regarding imprisonment of 16 Pakistanis in Israel was not taken up.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for three hours and 18 minutes.
• The sitting started at its scheduled time of 1100 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was also present.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting.
• The Opposition Leader was present for 30 minutes.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• 20 senators (19%) were present at the start and 32 (41%) at the end of the sitting.
• A maximum of 48 senators (46%) were present at one point of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of BNP-A, BNP-M and JI were absent.
• Only one minority member was present.
• Two members applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up 10 out of 17 questions appearing on the agenda, while the lawmakers raised 29 supplementary questions during the sitting.
• Four lawmakers (two from PML-N and one each from PPPP and PkMAP) discussed the annual report on the observance and implementation of the federation’s principles of policy in 2011-2012 for 34 minutes. The discussion was wrapped up by the State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, who spoke for another 16 minutes.
• The House passed a motion to constitute a Special Committee for review of proposed changes in the Pak-China Economic Corridor.
• The House also took up a CAN sponsored by a PPPP senator regarding delay in announcement of the eighth NFC Award.
• Another CAN dealing with the imprisonment of 16 Pakistanis in Israel was not taken up.
• The Chair admitted an adjournment motion regarding the merger of KASB Bank and Bank Islami for a discussion in the next sitting.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised ten points of order that consumed 27 minutes of the sitting.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on members’ attendance was not available to the observers and the public.

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This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of FAFEN and in no way reflect the views of the European Union. This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.