ISLAMABAD, May 4, 2012: The seventh sitting of the National Assembly’s 41st session on Friday, which lasted only 44 minutes, unanimously passed the National Commission for Human Rights Bill 2012.

PMLN legislators again walked out of the House over the Supreme Court decision in the contempt case against the Prime Minister. They did not return to the House.

The Annual Report of the Council of Common Interests for the year 2010-2011 was presented in the House.

The Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition did not attend the proceedings.

A total of 115 Legislators present at the start and 161 when the sitting was adjourned. A maximum of 185 Members were observed at any time of the sitting.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business: 

Members’ participation in House proceedings

• The National Assembly met for 44 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1126 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours. The proceedings started an hour and 26 minutes late.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the 28 minutes of the sitting while the remaining time was presided over by the Speaker.
• The Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• Only the parliamentary leader of the NPP was present, while those of the PML, MQM BNPA, ANP, MMAP and PMLF remained absent.
• The Chief Whips of PPPP, PMLN, ANP and NPP were present.
• A total of 115 Legislators (34%) were present at the outset of the sitting while there were 161 MNAs (47%) at the end of the sitting. A maximum of 185 Members were present at one point of the sitting.
• 10 minority Members were present.

  Representation and Responsiveness

• Two Calling Attention Notices appearing on the Agenda were not taken up by the House.
• Out of the 26 Questions to be taken up during the Question Hour, only four were put up and responded by the relevant ministries.
• Four Supplementary questions were raised during the sitting.

Output

• The National Commission for Human Rights Bill 2012 was passed by the House.
• The Annual Report of the Council of Common Interests for the year 2010-2011 was presented in the House.

Order and institutionalization

• Four Points of Order consumed 10 minutes of the sitting time.
• PMLN legislators again walked out of the House over the Supreme Court decision in the contempt case against the Prime Minister. They did not return to 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.