ISLAMABAD, June 28, 2013: Starting 30 minutes late, the 13^th sitting of the National Assembly’s second session witnessed low attendance of the members. A total of 67 members were present at the outset, 105 at the time of adjournment, and a maximum of 156 members were present at one time during any point of the sitting.

The sitting lasted two hours and six minutes before the session was prorogued.

Schedule of Authorized Expenditure 2013-14; supplementary Schedule of Authorized Expenditure 2012-13; and excess Schedule of Authorized Expenditure 1990-91, 1992-93, 1994-95, 1997-98, and 2001-02 were presented before the House.

One of the two Calling Attention Notices appearing on the agenda was taken up. It was about cutting of 300-350 old trees in Gilgit Baltistan in the garb of implementation of ex-Prime Minister’s directive of lifting the ban for bringing the chopped tree therefrom.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for two hours and six minutes.
• The sitting started at 1030 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours, witnessing the delay of 30 minutes.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting. The Speaker was not present
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 54 minutes.
• The Finance Minister attended the proceedings for 25 minutes.
• As many as 67 members were present at the outset while 105 were there at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 156 members were present at one time during any point of the sitting.
• Nine of the 10 minority members attended the sitting.
• Five members applied for leave.
  

Representation and Responsiveness

• One of the two Calling Attention Notices appearing on the agenda was taken up. It was about cutting of 300-350 old trees in Gilgit Baltistan in the garb of implementation of ex-Prime Minister’s directive of lifting the ban for bringing the chopped tree therefrom.
  

Output

• Following papers were presented before the House:
  • Schedule of Authorized Expenditure 2013-14
  • Supplementary Schedule of Authorized Expenditure 2012-13
  • Excess Schedule of Authorized Expenditure 1990-91, 1992-93, 1994-95, 1997-98, and 2001-02.

Order and Institutionalization

• Fifty-eight Points of Order consumed 108 minutes of the sitting time.
• No instance of protest, walkout or boycott observed during the sitting.

Transparency

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

 

The 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