ISLAMABAD, September 20, 2013: The Federal Court (Repeal) Bill, 2013 was introduced and sent to the relevant committee during the fifth sitting of the National Assembly’s fifth session, on Friday.

The Prime Minister did not attend the proceedings. The Speaker presided over the sitting in the presence of the Leader of the Opposition, the parliamentary leaders of PMLF, JI, PkMAP, QWP and the sole APML MNA.

Continuing the debate on the Presidential address to the Parliament a BNP Lawmaker shared his views for 25 minutes

A calling attention notice (CAN) on lack of a Grid Station in Malakand division resulting in load -shedding in various districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA was taken up. Another such notice on non-regularization of contractual employees of the deceased employees’ children in the Federal Government was left unaddressed.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for an hours and 44 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1049 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1030 hours, witnessing a delay of 19 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting while the Deputy Speaker was absent.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the proceedings. The Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour.
•  The parliamentary leaders of PMLF, JI, PkMAP, QWP and the sole APML MNA were present.
• Seventy-one members were present at the outset while 66 were there at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 126 members were present at one point of sitting.
• Five minority members attended the sitting.
• Nine members applied for leave.

Output

• The Federal Court (Repeal) Bill, 2013 was introduced and sent to the relevant standing committee.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Nine of 35 starred questions on the agenda were taken up and received answers on the floor. Additionally, 21 supplementary questions were also asked.
• A calling attention notice (CAN) on non – existence of Grid Station in Malakand Division resulting in load -shedding in Districts Buner, Swat, Upper Dir, Lower Dir and Bajaur Agency (FATA) was taken up. Another such notice on non-regularization of contractual employees of the deceased employees’ children in the Federal Government was left unaddressed.
• A BNP Lawmaker shared his views on the presidential address for 25 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• MNAs spoke on three points of order for six minutes.
• No protests, walkouts, boycotts were recorded during the sitting.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on members’ attendance was not available to observers and the public.

 

Disclaimer: This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of FAFEN and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI); a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions excepted.