ISLAMABAD, October 16, 2012: Starting an hour and 12 minutes late, the last sitting of the 46^th session which met for two hours and 58 minutes on Tuesday witnessed low attendance of Members. Only 68 legislators were present at the outset and 78 were there at the adjournment.

The House passed a Private Members’ Bill – the Abolition of Discretionary Quotas in Housing Schemes Bill 2011 – during the sitting. Additionally, a Government Bill – the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan Bill 2012- was also passed

The National Assembly adopted a Resolution calling the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for restoration of 1,613 teachers in D. I. Khan.

Another Resolution regarding the attack on Malala Yousafzai was not taken up due to the reservations by the Opposition.

Members’ participation in House proceedings

• The National Assembly met for two hours and 58 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1112 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours. The proceedings started an hour and 12 minutes late.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the sitting. The Speaker was not present.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 99 minutes.
• Only the parliamentary leaders of MQM, PML and BNPA attended the sitting.
• The Chief Whips of PPPP, PMLN, MQM and ANP were present.
• Sixty-eight (20%) Members were present at the outset while there were 78 (23%) at the end of the sitting. A maximum of 155 Members were present at one point of the sitting.
• Eight Minority Members attended the sitting.
• Five Members applied for leave.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• Two Calling Attention Notices regarding use of green belt for commercial purposes in Islamabad and discontinuation of work on liver transplantation project and non-payment of salary to the Doctors for the last five months in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) were taken up.

 Output

• The Abolition of Discretionary Quotas in Housing Schemes Bill, 2011 was unanimously passed by the House.
• Seven Standing Committee Reports were presented to the House.
• A Resolution, presented as supplementary agenda, calling the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for restoration of 1,613 teachers in D. I. Khan was adopted by the House.

• Another Resolution regarding the attack on Malala Yousafzai was not taken up due to the reservations by the Opposition.
• The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan Bill 2012 was also passed during the sitting.

 Order and institutionalization

• Fifteen Points of Order consumed 106 minutes. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts.

  Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• After a female PMLN legislator pointed out lack of quorum at 2020 hours, the Deputy Speaker adjourned the sitting.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of National Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a Member organization of FAFEN.