ISLAMABAD, March 20, 2017: The National Assembly debated the Constitutional Amendment Bill relating to military courts on Monday while deferring its consideration and passage for a later sitting, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during 11^th sitting of the 40^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for four hours and 57 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1604 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting except for 43 minutes when the Deputy Speaker chaired the proceedings.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for two and a half hours.
• Thirty-one lawmakers (9%) were present at the outset and 17 (5%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PkMAP, ANP, JI, PML, AMLP, APML, QWP-S and PML-Z attended the sitting.
• Nine minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• Parliamentary Secretary for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization introduced the Auditor-General’s (Functions, Powers and Terms and Conditions of Service) (Amendment) Bill, 2017. The House referred the bill to the relevant standing committee.
• Minister for Law and Justice moved for consideration of the Constitution (Twenty-eighth Amendment) Bill, 2017. Ten lawmakers including the mover discussed the bill for two hours and 42 minutes.
• The House did not take up the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Bill, 2017 and the Public Private Partnership Authority Bill, 2017
• The House adopted a motion to suspend the Private Members’ business in the sitting to be held tomorrow (Tuesday).

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as 14 out of 34 Starred Questions were taken up during the Question Hour while the lawmakers asked 30 supplementary questions as well.
• The House took up a Calling Attention Notices regarding closure of PESCO Transformers Repair Workshop while another CAN was not addressed.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on three Points of Order consuming 12 minutes of the proceedings.

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.