ISLAMABAD, January 16, 2012: The National Assembly during the third sitting adopted a Resolution regarding the supremacy of democracy. A total of six Members – including the PM, the Leader of the Opposition, the parliamentary leaders of ANP and PPPS, and a Member of PMLN and MMAP – spoke on the Resolution for 80 minutes. The PMLN and PPPS Members staged a walkout protesting the Resolution.

The sitting, which started an hour and five minutes late, met for four hours and four minutes with relatively better attendance of Members. A total of 167 Legislators were present at the start, while 202 were present when the sitting was adjourned.

Members raised a total of 60 Points of Order, which consumed 41% of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.

The Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University Bill, 2011 was passed by the House.

The Prime Minister attended the sitting for 188 minutes, while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 151 minutes. The parliamentary leaders of the PML, MQM, PMLF, PPPS, NPP, BNPA and ANP were present.

Members’ participation in House proceedings

• The National Assembly met for four hours and four minutes.
• The sitting started at 1805 Hours against the scheduled starting time of 1700 hours. The proceedings started late by 65 minutes.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the sitting for five minutes, while the remaining time was presided over by the Speaker.
• The Prime Minister was present for 188 minutes, while the Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for 151 minutes.
• Except for the Parliamentary Leader of MMAP, all the other leaders were present.
• The Chief Whips of PML, ANP, PMLN, MQM, PMLF and PPPP were present, while the chief whip of MMAP was absent.
• A total of 188 (56%) Members were present at the outset of the sitting, while 202 (60%) Members at the end of the sitting.
• Two Members applied for leave to be absent from the sitting.
• 10 minority Members were present during the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up one out of two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) which appeared on the Orders of the Day.
• Moved by five PMLN Members – two females and three males – the CAN was about “US apprehension over the Pak-Iran gas pipelines agreement”, which was directed to Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• There was no Question Hour as the prerequisite two weeks have not lapsed between the two sessions.

Output

• The Shife Tameer-e-Millat University Bill, 2011 was unanimously passed by the House

Order and institutionalization

• A total of 60 Points of Order were raised, consuming 99 minutes (41%) of the sitting. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• PMLN and PPPS Members staged a walkout protesting the Resolution, which was adopted during the sitting.
• They went out of the House at 2145 hours and did not come to attend the remaining proceedings of the House.

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 National Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a member organization of FAFEN.