ISLAMABAD, October 8, 2012: Starting an hour and 13 minutes late, the first sitting of 86^th session on Monday witnessed low attendance of Senators. Fourteen were present at the outset while 26 were there at the adjournment.

Most of the agenda items were left unaddressed by the House. Following the tradition, the agenda for Private Members’ Day was set ambitiously which is not possible to complete in a single sitting.

The House did not take up six Resolutions, five Motions under Rule 218 and one Standing Committee Report regarding the Drugs Regulatory Authority of Pakistan Bill 2012.

However sponsored by the Leader of the Opposition, the Senate adopted a Resolution to condemn the anti-Islam film.

A total of 13 Points of Order consumed an hour and 20 minutes of the sitting time. None of the Points of Order raised attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members\’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for an hour and 37 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1813 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1700 hours. The proceedings started late by an hour and 13 minutes.
• The Chairman chaired the sitting. The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition were present during the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PMLF, NP, JUIF and ANP attended the sitting.
• Fourteen Senators (14% of total Membership) were present at the start, while 26 (26%) were present when the sitting was adjourned.
• Two Minority Senators were present during the sitting.

 

Representation and Responsiveness

• Five Motions under Rule 218 which appeared on the Orders of the Day were not taken up by the House.
• An ANP and three MQM Senators debated the motion on law and order in the country for 17 minutes.
• Six Resolutions appearing on the Agenda were also not taken up by the House.

Output

• The House unanimously adopted a Resolution to condemn the anti-Islam film. The Resolution was moved by the Leader of the Opposition.
• The Standing Committee report about the Drugs Regulatory Authority of Pakistan Bill 2012 was not presented to the House.

Order and Institutionalization

• Thirteen Points of Order consumed an hour and 20 minutes of the sitting time.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were 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