ISLAMABAD, February 07, 2013: The 11^th sitting of the National Assembly’s 49^th session, which met for an hour and 35 minutes on Thursday, was marked by low attendance and unaddressed agenda.

Four bills, six resolutions, eight motions under rule 259, and a calling attention notice on the agenda remained unaddressed.

Sixty-six members were present at the outset while 72 were there at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 136 members were present at one point of sitting.

The Deputy Speaker chaired the sitting for 17 minutes while the remaining proceedings were chaired by the members of the Panel of Chairpersons. The Speaker, the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the parliamentary leaders of MQM, MMAP, ANP, PMLF and BNPA did not attend the sitting.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for an hour and 35 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1815 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1700 hours, witnessing a delay of an hour and 15 minutes.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the sitting for 17 minutes while the remaining proceedings were chaired by a member of the Panel of Chairpersons.
• The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of PML, PPPS and NPP were present while those of MQM, MMAP, ANP, PMLF and BNPA were absent.
• Chief whip of PPPP, PMLN, MMAP, ANP, and PML were present whereas those of MQM, PMLF did not attend the sitting.
• Sixty-six members were present at the outset while 72 were there at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 136 members were present at one point of sitting.
• Four minority members attended the sitting.
• Twenty-three members applied for leave.

 

Representation and Responsiveness

• Six of the 25 starred questions on the agenda were taken up and responded to by the relevant minister. Additionally, 13 supplementary questions were asked.
• Out of two calling attention notices on the Orders of the Day, one was taken up by the House. It was about increase in the gas tariff from January 1, 2013.
• Eight motions under rule 259 on the Orders of the Day were not taken up.

 

Output

• None of the four bills and six resolutions on the agenda was taken up.

 

Order and Institutionalization

• Ten points of order consumed 23 minutes of the sitting time.
• No instance of protest, walkout or boycott was observed during the sitting.

 

Transparency

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