ISLAMABAD, Feb 1, 2012: Marked by low attendance of Senators, the twelfth sitting of the Upper House’s 77th session witnessed walkout over increase in the prices of petroleum products.

At the start of the sitting seven Senators were present and ten were there when it was adjourned.

The sitting met for an hour and 50 minutes on Wednesday.

The Quorum, visibly lacking at various stages of the sitting, was pointed out twice by JUI-F and ANP Senators.

Protesting against the absence of relevant ministers, Senators of PMLN, JUI, ANP, MQM and JI walked out of the House over increase in the prices of petroleum products.

The sitting did not take up any agenda item appearing on the Orders of the Day except the Question Hour.

Four out of seven starred questions listed for the Question Hour were responded.

The Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University Bill 2012 and a Calling Attention Notice about not setting up a passport office in Malakand Agency were not taken up by the House.

The Leader of the House attended the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was not present.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for an hour and 50 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1630 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1600 hours. The proceedings started 30 minutes late.
• The Chairman presided over the sitting while the Deputy Speaker and Members of Panel of Chairperson were not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was not present.
• The parliamentary leaders of the PMLN, MQM, PMLF, PKMAP and the JI attended the sitting while the leaders of the JWP, BNPA, PPPS, NP, PML and the ANP were absent.
• Seven Senators were present at the start of the sitting while ten were there when it was adjourned. A maximum of 23 Senators were present at one point of the sitting.
• Two Senators applied for leave to be absent.
• The House took a 30-minute break for the prayers.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House did not take up a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) appearing on the Order of the Day.
• Out of the seven questions listed for the Question Hour, four were put up and responded. Ten supplementary questions were asked during the sitting.
• An Adjournment Motion about price increase in petroleum products was deferred by the House.

Output

• The Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University, Bill, 2012 was not taken up.

Order and Institutionalization

• Seven Points of Order consumed 15 minutes of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• Protesting against the absence of relevant Ministers, Senators of PMLN, JUI, ANP, MQM and JI walked out of the House over increase in prices of petroleum products.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.

After successfully observing proceedings of the National Assembly, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has started the observation of the provincial assemblies – Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan – and the Senate. This daily factsheet is based on FAFEN’s direct observation of the 12th sitting of 77th session of the Senate. These reports are released on the day the sittings are held to provide media and other interested stakeholders vital statistics about the Assembly proceedings to encourage informed public discourse on its performance.

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