ISLAMABAD, February 6, 2014: The National Assembly adopted three resolutions to extend as many anti-terror ordinances, including Protection of Pakistan Ordinance, 2013, during 8^th sitting of its ongoing session on Thursday, says Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet based on direct observation of the proceedings.

Tabled by Federal Minister for Science and Technology, the House passed with majority vote three resolutions that sought extension of Anti-terrorism (Amendment) Ordinance 2013 (VII of 2013), Anti-terrorism (Amendment) Ordinance 2013 (VIII of 2013) and Protection of Pakistan Ordinance, 2013 (IX of 2013) for a further period of 120 days with effect from February 7, February 9 and February 6 respectively. The lawmakers belonging to different parties spoke on these resolutions for two hours and 13 minutes.

The House also passed two bills further to amend the Anti-terrorism Act, 1997 as reported by the Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control while the Protection of Pakistan Bill, 2013 was deferred by the House. The lawmakers debated the bills for sixteen minutes before the House gave assent to them. The opposition parties staged a walkout against the passage of these bills.

Moreover, the Chairman of Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Human Rights laid four reports on legislative bills. The reports comprised The Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils (Amendment) Bill, 2013, The Constitution (Twenty Third Amendment) Bill, 2013, The Federal Court (Repeal) Bill, 2013 and The National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee (Amendment) Bill, 2014.

The House also took up a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding unhygienic water being supplied from Rawal and Simly Dams to Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The minister for parliamentary affairs replied to the CAN. Moreover, twelve of the 39 Starred Questions (requiring oral as well as written replies) were answered by relevant ministries during the sitting.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings:

• The National Assembly met for four hours and 55 minutes, taking a prayer break of half an hour.
• The sitting started at 1635 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours, witnessing a delay of 35 minutes.
• Speaker chaired the entire sitting while Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition stayed in the House for 95 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, JI, ANP, and PML-F were present while sole members of PML-Z and APML also attended the sitting.
• One hundred and twelve members were present at the outset while 134 were there at the adjournment. A maximum of 237 members were observed to be present at one point of the sitting.
• Nine minority members attended the sitting.
• Twenty members applied for leave.
  

Output

• Tabled by Federal Minister for Science and Technology, the House passed with majority vote three resolutions that sought extension of Anti-terrorism (Amendment) Ordinance 2013 (VII of 2013), Anti-terrorism (Amendment) Ordinance 2013 (VIII of 2013) and Protection of Pakistan Ordinance, 2013 (IX of 2013) for a further period of 120 days with effect from February 7, February 9 and February 6 respectively. The lawmakers belonging to different parties spoke for two hours and 13 minutes on these resolutions.
• The House also passed two bills further to amend the Anti-terrorism Act, 1997 as reported by the Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control while the Protection of Pakistan Bill, 2013 was deferred. The lawmakers debated the bills for sixteen minutes before the House gave assent to them. The opposition parties staged a walkout against the passage of these bills.
• The Chairman Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Human Rights laid four reports on legislative bills. The reports were related to The Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils (Amendment) Bill, 2013, The Constitution (Twenty Third Amendment) Bill, 2013, The Federal Court (Repeal) Bill, 2013 and The National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee (Amendment) Bill, 2014.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House also took up a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding unhygienic water being supplied from Rawal and Simly Dams to Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
• Twelve of the 39 Starred Questions (requiring oral as well as written replies) were answered by relevant ministries during the sitting.

Order and Institutionalization

• The members sitting on opposition benches walked out for five minutes before the adjournment of the sitting against the passage of two bills related to terrorism.
• Only one member raised a point of order during the entire sitting.
  

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on members’ attendance was not available to observers and the public.

 

This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of FAFEN and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI); a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions excepted