ISLAMABAD, April 20 2021: The National Assembly (NA) deferred private members’ business on Tuesday and considered a supplementary resolution seeking debate on the issue of expelling the French ambassador from Pakistan, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during third sitting of 32^nd session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for an hour.
• The sitting started at 03:58 pm against the scheduled time of 03:00 pm.
• The speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The deputy speaker did not attend the sitting.
• The leaders of the House (Prime Minister) and the opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 126 (37%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 155 (45%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• PPPP lawmakers did not attend the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of GDA, MMAP, BAP, PML and AMLP attended the sitting.
• Six out of ten minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• Moved by Minister of state for parliamentary affairs, the House passed a motion to defer the entire agenda on private members’ day. The agenda included 27 private members’ bills, nine reports of standing committees, five resolutions and as many motions under Rule 259, three amendments in Rules of Procedure, two calling attention notices and a matter of urgent public importance.
• A PTI lawmaker tabled a resolution condemning the publication of blasphemous caricatures by French magazine Charlie Hebdo in September last year and seeking debate in the House on the issue of expelling the French ambassador from Pakistan. Six lawmakers spoke on the resolution for 43 minutes.
• The Housed passed a motion authorizing the Speaker National Assembly to constitute a special committee for consideration on the tabled resolution. The motion was moved by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs.

 Order and Institutionalization

• PML-N and MMAP lawmakers protested in front of Chair’s dais for three minutes against the remarks of Minister of religious affairs and inter-faith harmony about the opposition.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on April 23, 2021 (Friday) at 11:00 am.

 Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Attendance of the lawmakers is available on the National Assembly’s website.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions excepted