NA Discusses Quetta Incident; Suspends Agenda

  • Discussion on terror attack to continue tomorrow

ISLAMABAD, August 8, 2016: The National Assembly suspended its regular agenda to discuss the terrorist attack in Quetta on Monday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during sixth sitting of the 34th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The National Assembly met for three hours and 16 minutes.
  • The proceedings remained suspended for 26 minutes due to prayer’s break.
  • The sitting started at 1720 hours against the scheduled time of 1700 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the proceedings for 35 minutes, the Deputy Speaker for 58 minutes and a Member of Panel of Chairpersons for 77 minutes.
  • The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
  • Sixty-six lawmakers (19%) were present at outset while 40 (11%) at adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PkMAP, APML, JI, BNP-A, AMLP, QWP-S and ANP attended the sitting.
  • Seven minority members were present.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House adopted two treasury motions to suspend the regular agenda for sittings on Monday and Tuesday.
  • Moved by the Minister for Law and Justice under Rule 259, the House discussed the incident of terrorism in Quetta. Thirteen lawmakers took part in discussion that consumed two hours and 20 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

  • The lawmakers spoke on five Points of Order consuming six 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.

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.