ISLAMABAD, January 4, 2011:  The National Assembly suspended the regular agenda due to the tragic death of the Governor, Punjab in a terrorist attack. The House only met for six minutes, with relatively better attendance of Members. There were 117 present on the onset of the sitting, while 131 were present when the sitting was adjourned.

The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, along with the Parliamentary Party Heads did not attend the sitting.

The National Assembly would meet at 1600 on January 5, 2010. Following are some key observations of the Parliamentary Business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for six minutes.
• The tenth sitting started at 1710 Hours against the scheduled starting time of 1600 hours. The House proceedings started late by an hour and 10 minutes.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting. The Deputy Speaker was also present during the sitting.
• The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition were not present during the sitting.
• None of the Parliamentary Party Leaders were present during the sitting
• The Chief Whips of PMLN and ANP were present, while the chief whips of PPPP, PML, MQM, MMAP, PMLF, NPP and BNPA were absent.
• A total of 117 (34%) Members were present at the outset of the sitting, while 131 (39%) Members were present at the end of the sitting.
• A total of eight out of 10 minority Members were present during the 10^th sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• There were two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) on the Orders of the Day. Both the CANs were not taken up by the House.

Output

• There were four bills on the Orders of the Day, but were not taken up due to the tragic dead of the Governor, Punjab.

Order and Institutionalization

• A total of four Points of Order were raised, consuming three minutes of the sitting time. The subject of these Points of Order was the tragic incident, in which the Governor Punjab was killed.
• There was one admitted Adjournment Motion on the Orders of the Day regarding the “increase in the prices of electricity and LPG”, which was not debated upon during the course of the sitting.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts and walkouts during the course of 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 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