ISLAMABAD, October 7, 2016: The Senate passed a motion to suspend the Question Hour and passed two bills on Friday during eighth sitting of the 253^rd session on Friday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

The House of Federation also witnessed the introduction of six more bills, related to judiciary, before the Chair read out the prorogation orders.

Following are some key observations of the House business:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for an hour and 18 minutes.
• The sitting started one minute behind the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of PML-F, JUI-F, PkMAP, PPPP, BNP-M, PML-N and MQM attended the sitting.
• Twenty-two lawmakers (21% of the total membership – 104) were present at the start and 43 members (41%) at the end of the sitting.
• One minority legislator attended the sitting.

Output

• The House passed two bills, including the Special Economic Zones (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the State Life Insurance Corporation (Re-organization and Conversion) Bill, 2016.
• Six bills were introduced in the House including the Central Law Officers Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the  Code  of  Civil  Procedure  (Amendment)  Bill, 2016; the Islamabad  High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Civil  Courts  (Amendment)  Bill,  2016 and the Companies (Appointment of Legal Advisers) (Amendment) Bill, 2016. All the bills were referred to the relevant committee for further deliberations.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat presented report on the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2015.
• Chairman, Committee on Delegated Legislation presented second quarterly report for the period from July to September, 2016.
• The House adopted first report of the Committee of the Whole regarding Policy Guidelines in view of the latest situation developing between Pakistan and India.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding non-establishment of Passport Offices in Districts Musakhel, Ziarat and Harnai despite recruitment of staff for these offices.
• Another CAN regarding non-completion of electrification schemes in three villages was dropped due to the absence of mover.
• The House passed a motion to suspend the Question Hour.

Order and Institutionalization 

• Six Points of Public Importance consumed 14 minutes of the proceedings.

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