ISLAMABAD, February 06, 2012: The Upper House passed the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan Bill 2012 and the Trade Organizations Bill 2012 in the 10^th sitting of the 90th session, which met for two hours and nine minutes on Wednesday.

Another bill, the Islamabad Capital Territory Private Educational Institutions (Registration and Regulation) Bill 2013, was sent to the Standing Committee.

The sitting was marked by low attendance. Only nine Senators were present at the outset, 15 at the time of adjournment, while a maximum of 37 Senators were present at one point of sitting.

JUIF and BNPA Senators separately walked out of the House over imposition of Governor Rule in Balochistan. PMLN legislators also walked out over remarks of a PPPP Senator about the sit-in for empowerment of Election Commission.

The Deputy Chairman chaired the sitting. The Leader of the House, the Leader of the Opposition, and the parliamentary leaders of MQM, JUIF and NP were present whereas those of PML, BNPA, ANP and PMLF did not attend the sitting.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for two hours and nine minutes.
• The sitting started at 1611 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1500 hours, witnessing a delay of an hour and 11 minutes.
• The Deputy Chairman chaired the sitting.
• The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of MQM, JUIF and NP were present whereas those of PML, BNPA, ANP and PMLF did not attend the sitting.
• Only nine senators were present at the outset while 15 were there at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 37 senators were present at one point of sitting.

• The quorum was visibly lacking at various stages of the sitting. However, it was not pointed out by any member.

• Two minority Senators attended the sitting.
• Ten senators applied for leave.

 

Representation and Responsiveness

• Four starred questions appearing on the agenda were responded to by the relevant ministries.

 

Output

• The House passed the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan Bill 2012 and the Trade Organizations Bill 2012.
• The Islamabad Capital Territory Private Educational Institutions (Registration and Regulation) Bill 2013 was sent to the Standing Committee.

 

Order and Institutionalization

• Nineteen points of order consumed an hour and 30 minutes of the sitting time.
• Three walkouts were observed during the sitting. JUIF and BNPA Senators separately walked out over imposition of Governor Rule in Balochistan. PMLN Senators staged a 20-minute walkout over the remarks of a PPPP Senator about sit-in for empowerment of Election Commission.

 

Transparency

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

 

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