ISLAMABAD, March 27, 2014: The opposition members in the National Assembly staged a token walkout, on Thursday, over unsatisfactory reply of the government regarding the foreign aid of Rs 1.5 billion, says Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet based on direct observation of the proceedings.

The House took up two calling attention notices (CANs). Sponsored by minority lawmaker of PML-N, the first CAN was about the gray traffic resulting in loss of billions of rupees to the economy per year, while the other CAN, sponsored by five MQM legislators, was about non-payment of salaries and other allowances to the staff of the Passport department, posted in foreign missions of Pakistan for the last several months.

Low attendance persisted in the sitting as 63 members were present at the outset while 74 were there at the adjournment. A maximum of 148 members were observed to be present at one point of the sitting.

The Prime Minister did not attend the proceedings while the Leader of the Opposition was there for 45 minutes. Parliamentary leader of PkMAP, ANP, APML, PTI, JI, AMLP and QWP attended the proceedings.

Following are some key observations of the Parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings:

• The National Assembly met for two hours and forty minutes.
• The sitting started at 1100 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours, witnessing a delay of 30 minutes.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 45 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, ANP, APML, PTI, JI, AMLP and QWP were present.
• Sixty-three members were present at the outset while 74 were there at the adjournment. A maximum of 148 members were observed to be present at one point of the sitting.
• Six minority members attended the sitting.
• Ten members applied for leave.
  

Representation and Responsiveness

• All 12 starred questions (requiring oral as well as written answers) on the agenda were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministries. Additionally, 14 supplementary questions were asked.
• The House took up two calling attention notices (CANs). Sponsored by minority lawmaker of PML-N, the first CAN was about the gray traffic resulting in loss of billions of rupees to the economy per year, while the other CAN, sponsored by five MQM legislators, was about non-payment of salaries and other allowances to the staff of Passport department, posted in the foreign missions of Pakistan for the last several months.
  

Order and Institutionalization

• Lawmakers spoke on 14 matters under Rule 18 for an hour and two minutes.
•  Opposition members, except JI and QWP, staged a token walkout for seven minutes against the government reply on foreign aid of Rs 1.5 billion, which could not satisfy them.

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.

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