ISLAMABAD, November 22, 2016: The National Assembly deferred the consideration of four Private Members’ Bills but adopted two Private Members’ resolutions on Tuesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during third sitting of the 37^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for three hours and 45 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1032 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• Fourteen lawmakers (4%) were present at outset while 27 (7%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PkMAP, JI, PML-Z, PML-F, PML, APML, QWP-S and ANP attended the sitting.
• Four minority members were present.

Output

• Moved by PML-N lawmaker, the House referred the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to the relevant committee.
• The relevant lawmakers withdrew the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (Amendment in Article 215 and 218), the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (Amendment in Articles 99 & 209, insertion of new Articles 204A, 204B, 204C, 211A and 211B) and the Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2016. These bills were withdrawn after assurances by the government to introduce similar legislation soon.
• The House deferred introduction of the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University, Islamabad (Amendment) Bill, 2016 for unspecified period on request of the government.
• The House dropped three Private Member’s Bills due to absence of the relevant lawmakers.
• The House also deferred consideration and passage of the Law Reforms (Amendment) Bill, 2015, the Publication of the Holy Quran (Elimination of Printing and Recording Errors) (Amendment) Bill, 2015, the Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) (Amendment) Bill, 2014 and the Trade Organizations (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
• The House rejected an amendment to the Rules of Procedure moved by MQM lawmaker. The amendment proposed to play National Anthem before commencement of the Assembly proceedings.
• The House adopted two resolutions urging the government to subsidize Hajj travel for low-income persons and send official delegations to Madina to commemorate birthday of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). Four lawmakers spoke on these resolutions for four minutes.
• Two other resolutions regarding unified pay scales for Federal Government Employees and fixing minimum pension at 50,000 PKR were rejected. Five lawmakers spoke on these resolutions for eight minutes.
• The voting on a resolution regarding gas load-shedding was deferred due to absence of the relevant minister. Two lawmakers spoke on this resolution for six minutes.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices regarding rising drug addiction among students and failure of National Economic Council to ensure balanced development across the country.
• Four lawmakers took part in nine minutes long discussion on Motion under Rule 259 about fixing minimum pension at 50,000 PKR.
• Eight lawmakers took part in 22 minutes long discussion on Motion under Rule 259 regarding population census.
• Nine lawmakers took part in 23 minutes long discussion on Motion under Rule 259 regarding performance of Benazir Income Support Programme.
• The House did not take up two other Motions under Rule 259 due to absence or disinterest of relevant lawmakers.
• Two lawmakers including the Minister for Commerce discussed an Urgent Matter of Public Importance under Rule 87 regarding decline in exports of the country. The discussion consumed 20 minutes of the proceeding time.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on five Points of Order consuming eight minutes of the sitting.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

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