ISLAMABAD, January 12, 2016: The National Assembly took up half of its agenda amidst low attendance during eighth sitting of 28^th session on Tuesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

It was second private members’ day of ongoing session.

Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for two hours and 49 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1037 hours against its scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for first 77 minutes while a member of the Panel of Chairpersons presided over the rest of the sitting.
• The Prime Minister was not present.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for an hour.
• Eleven Federal Ministers attended the sitting.
• 19 MNAs (5%) were present at outset and 42 (12%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, MQM, QWP-S, JI, APML and AMLP were present.
• Five minority members were present.

Output

• The House witnessed introduction of the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (Amendment to Article 11) and the Factories (Amendment) Bill, 2016 moved by PTI and PML-N lawmakers respectively.
• The House rejected two motions seeking leave to introduce two constitutional amendment bills to amend Article 156 and 161. These bills were sponsored by PTI and MQM lawmakers.
• The Chairman Standing Committee on Religious Affairs & Interfaith Harmony presented the report of the committee on the Publication of the Holy Quran (Elimination of Printing and Recording Errors) (Amendment) Bill, 2015. The House also approved a motion to condone the delay in presentation of the report.
• The House adopted a resolution urging the government to make National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) an effective and functional organization. Three lawmakers discussed the resolution for 26 minutes.
• An amendment to the National Assembly Rules of Procedure & Conduct of Business was referred to the relevant standing committee.
• The House rejected another amendment to the rules with majority vote. The rejected amendment sought to bind Prime Minister to answer the questions of lawmakers once a week.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) appearing on agenda. The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs made a statement on CAN regarding poor water disputes resolution strategy while the Parliamentary Secretary for Petroleum & Natural Resources responded to CAN regarding not passing the benefit to the people of the reduction in the prices of crude oil in the international market.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on 17 Points of Order consuming 27 minutes of the proceeding. They discussed the issues relating to agriculture, Pakistan Stock Exchange, discontinuing electricity supply to WASA and blocking CNICs of people belonging to Balochistan.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers is available on website of National Assembly.

 To download the factsheet, click here for English version – click here for Urdu version

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This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceeding conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted