ISLAMABAD, October 28, 2014: The National Assembly did not take up 53% agenda items on the orders of day during the 6^th sitting of 15^th session on Tuesday, says the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Two private bills were introduced in the House which spent 85 minutes (56% of the proceedings’ time) as 28 points of order were raised regarding various issues.

A PML-N female lawmaker introduced the Torture, Custodial Death and Custodial Rape (Prevention and Punishment) Bill 2014 which was sent to the relevant committee. A PPPP female lawmaker introduced the Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill 2014 which has been passed by the Senate. The State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs opposed the bill and it was referred to the relevant committee for further consideration.

Sponsored by two PML-N female lawmakers, the House took up a calling attention notice (CAN) regarding operational gas meters without valves in 3,300 government quarters in Sector G-9/2.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings:

• The National Assembly met for two hours and 33 minutes.
• The sitting began at 1122 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours witnessing a delay of 22 minutes.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting as the Speaker was absent.
• The Prime Minister attended the sitting for 28 minutes while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 39 minutes.
• Forty-five lawmakers (13%) were present at the outset and 70 (20%) at the adjournment while a maximum of 147 members (43%) were observed to be present at one point during the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of JI, BNP-A, QWP, ANP, MQM, PML-Z and APML attended the sitting.
• Six minority members attended the sitting.
• Eleven lawmakers applied for leave.

Output

• A PML-N female lawmaker introduced the Torture, Custodial Death and Custodial Rape (Prevention and Punishment) Bill, 2014 which was sent to the relevant committee. The bill is aimed to provide for the prevention of all acts of torture, custodial death and custodial rape perpetrated by public servants or any person acting in his/her official capacity and for the protection of citizens of Pakistan and all other persons for the time being in Pakistan from such acts.
• A PPPP female lawmaker introduced the Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2014 which has been passed by the Senate. It was referred to the relevant committee for further deliberations after being opposed by State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs.
• The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman presented the first report on its performance for the period of December 2013 to June 2014.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Sponsored by two PML-N female lawmakers, the House took up a calling attention notice (CAN) regarding operational gas meters without valves in 3,300 government quarters in Sector G-9/2.

Order and Institutionalization

• Twenty-eight points of order consumed 85 minutes (56%) of the proceedings’ time.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on members’ attendance was not available to observers and the public.
• The quorum was visibly lacking at various stages of the sitting. However, it was not pointed out by any of the legislators.

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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 can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI); a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions excepted