Lower House condemns Indian Prime Minister’s tirade against Pakistan           

ISLAMABAD, June 11, 2015: The National Assembly continued to witness thin attendance of lawmakers on Thursday as a major part of the sitting was consumed in debate on the Federal Budget 2015-16, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Tabled by Minister for Finance, the House passed a resolution to condemn the Indian Prime Minister’s statement against Pakistan.

The Prime Minister attended the sitting for 32 minutes (8 %) while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 239 (58 %) minutes.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings:

• The National Assembly met for six hours and 54 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1003 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours, witnessing a delay of three minutes.
• The House had a prayer and lunch break of 64 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for 239 minutes while the remaining proceedings were presided over by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Prime Minister attended the sitting for 32 minutes while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 239 minutes.
• Finance Minister attended the sitting for 148 minutes.
• A total of 25 members (7% of the total membership – 342) were present at the outset, while 39 (11%) were there at the time of adjournment.
• A maximum of 196 members (57%) were present at one point of the sitting.
• The Parliamentary leaders of APML, BNP, ANP, QWP, PML, AMLP and JUI-F attended the sitting.
• Nine minority members were present during the sitting.
• Ten members applied for leave.

Output

• Tabled by Minister for Finance, the House passed a resolution to condemn the threatening statement of Indian Prime Minister against Pakistan.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Twenty-six lawmakers expressed their views on the Federal Budget 2015-16 for 311 minutes (75% of the sitting time). These included PML-N (6), PPPP and MQM (5 each), PTI (4), JUI-F (3) and one each of JI, PML-F and APML.

Order and Institutionalization

• Six points of order consumed 22 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 observers and the public.

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The 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 are excepted.