ISLAMABAD, August 04, 2011: The National Assembly met for two hours and 22 minutes during the fourth sitting of the 33rd session. The sitting was marked by low attendance of Members, with 73 Members present at the outset and 92 present when the sitting was adjourned.

The House continued debate on the Motion Under Rule 259 regarding the law and order situation prevailing in the country, particularly in Karachi and Quetta.

A total of eight Members of the House – two each of the PMLN and MQM, one each of the PPPP, ANP and MMAP and one Independent– spoke on the motion for 122 minutes.

The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition were not present during the proceeding of the 4^th sitting. The Parliamentary Leaders of the PML, MQM, MMAP, NPP and PPPS were present, whereas the leaders of other parliamentary parties did not turn up for the sitting’s proceedings. The following are some key observations of the Parliamentary Business:

Members’ participation in House proceedings

• The National Assembly met for two hours and 22 minutes.
• The fourth sitting started at 1345 Hours against the scheduled starting time of 1300 hours. The House proceedings started late by 45 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for 60 minutes of the sitting, while the remaining 82 minutes of the sitting was presided over the Deputy Speaker.
• The Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition were not present during the sitting.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of the PML, MQM, MMAP, PPPS and NPP were present, while the leaders of the ANP, PMLF and BNPA were absent.
• The Chief Whips of the PPPP, PMLN and MQM were present, while the chief whips of the ANP, MMAP, PML, BNPA and PMLF were absent.
• A total of 73 (21%) Members were present at the outset of the sitting, while 92 (27%) Members at the end of the sitting.
• Seventeen Members applied for leave to be absent from the sitting.
• As many as six out of 10 minority Members were present during the 4^thsitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House continued debate on the Motion Under Rule 259 regarding law and order situation prevailing the country, particularly in Karachi and Quetta.
• A total of eight Members of the House – two each of the PMLN and MQM, one each of the PPPP, ANP and MMAP and one Independent– spoke on the motion for 122 minutes.

Output

• There were no bills on the Orders of the Day.

 Order and institutionalization

• A total of eight Points of Order were raised, consuming 10 minutes of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Orders raised by Members attracted Speaker’s ruling.
• The sitting witnessed a token walkout by Members of the PMLN on the deteriorating condition of Railways, and against load shedding of electricity. In response to the protest the Deputy Speaker adjourned the sitting.

 Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The Quorum was visibly lacking at various stages during the sitting. However, lack of quorum was not pointed out by any of the Members of the National Assembly.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a member organization of FAFEN