ISLAMABAD, January 30, 2013: Starting two hours and 22 minutes late, the National Assembly’s seventh sitting of the 49^th session addressed most of agenda appearing on the Orders of the Day on Wednesday.

There were 145 members at the outset whereas a maximum of 168 members were present at one point of sitting.

The Stock Exchanges (Corporatization, Demutualization and Integration) (Amendment) Bill 2013 and the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (PIMS), Islamabad, Bill 2013 – were introduced and sent to the Standing Committees. The Ordinance for the Services of Pakistan (Redressal of Under-Representation) 2012 was laid before the house and a standing committee report on the National Tariff Commission (Amendment) Bill 2012 was presented.

MMAP lawmakers walked out of the House in protest over imposition of Governor Rule in Balochistan.

The Speaker chaired the sitting for 78 minutes, the Deputy Speaker for 25 minutes while the remaining proceedings were presided over by a member of the Panel of Chairpersons. The Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the parliamentary leaders of MQM, MMAP, ANP, PML, PMLF, and PPPS did not attend the sitting.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for two hours and three minutes.
• The sitting started at 1822 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1600 hours, witnessing a delay of two hours and 22 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for 78 minutes. The Deputy Speaker chaired the sitting for 25 minutes while the remaining proceedings were presided over 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 BNPA and NPP were present while those of MQM, MMAP, ANP, PML, PMLF, and PPPS were absent.
• Chief whips of PPPP, MMAP, ANP, PML and PMLN attended the sitting whereas those of MQM, PMLF, and PPPS remained absent.
• A total of 145 members (39% of the total membership) were present at the outset while 36 (9%) were there at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 168 (45%) members were present at one point of sitting.
• All minority members attended the sitting.
• Four members applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Out of 24 starred questions on the agenda, six were taken up and responded to by the relevant minister. Additionally, 20 supplementary questions were asked.
• One of the two calling attention notices appearing on the agenda was taken up by the house. It was about non-payment of wages to the laborers of kilns in Islamabad prescribed by the government.
• The notice not taken up was regarding non-supply of gas to Sectors G-7/3-3 and G-7/3-2, Islamabad for the last one month.
• A motion under rule 259 on law and order situation in the country was not taken up.

 

Output

• The Stock Exchanges (Corporatization, Demutualization and Integration) (Amendment) Bill 2013 and the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (PIMS), Islamabad, Bill 2013 were introduced and sent to the Standing Committees.
• The Ordinance for the Services of Pakistan (Redressal of Under-Representation) 2012 was laid before the house.
• A report on the National Tariff Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2012 was presented before the House by the Standing Committee on Law and Justice.

 

Order and Institutionalization

 

• Eight points of order consumed 20 minutes of the sitting time.
• MMAP lawmakers walked out of the House in protest over imposition of Governor Rule in Balochistan at 2020 hours. They did not return to attend the proceedings. 

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