ISLAMABAD, September 3, 2012: Starting 40 minutes behind schedule, the first sitting of Senate’s 85^th session witnessed low attendance of Senators.  Only 13 Senators were present at the outset of the sitting while 21 were there when it was adjourned.

A Standing Committee report on a Privilege Motion about leveling baseless allegations on an ANP Senator by a Government employee was presented to the House.

Fifteen Members – five PMLN, three ANP and one each of the PPPP, PML, JUIF, MQM, NP and BNPA, and one Independent – spoke on the Resolution regarding the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances for 40 minutes. The Resolution was deferred till the next sitting.

The Resolution about deweaponizing the city of Karachi in view of prevailing law and order in the city was also deferred.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for two hours and 17 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1740 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1700 hours. The House proceedings started late by 40 minutes.
• The Chairman chaired the sitting.
• The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of the MQM, ANP, and NP attended the sitting.
• Thirteen Senators (13% of total Membership) were present at the start, while 21 (21%) were present when the sitting was adjourned.
• Three Minority Members were present.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Fifteen Members – five PMLN, three ANP and one each of the PPPP, PML, JUIF, MQM, NP and BNPA, and one Independent – spoke on the Resolution regarding the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances for 40 minutes. The Resolution was deferred till the next sitting.
• The Resolution about deweaponizing the city of Karachi in view of prevailing law and order was also deferred.

Output

• A Standing Committee report on a Privilege Motion about leveling baseless allegations on an ANP Senator by a Government employee was presented to the House.

Order and Institutionalization

• Five Points of Order consumed 12 minutes of the sitting time. None of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ 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