ISLAMABAD, March 14, 2017: The National Assembly approved a bill and three resolutions moved by Private Members on Tuesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during seventh sitting of the 40^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for three hours and 40 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1031 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting in absence of the Speaker.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 32 minutes.
• Fourteen lawmakers (4%) were present at the outset and 26 (7%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, ANP, JI, APML, QWP-S, PML-Z and BNP-A attended the sitting.
• Four minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• Introduced by MQM lawmakers, the House referred the Religious Scholars, Ulema and Pesh Imams (Prayers Leaders) Welfare Bill, 2017 to the relevant standing committees.
• Moved by PML-N lawmaker, the House passed the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (Amendment) Bill, 2017 as received from the Senate.
• Moved by MQM lawmaker, the House rejected the Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2014. It was also received from the Senate.
• The House referred 12 bills received from the Senate to the relevant committees. These bills included Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2015, the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Bill, 2016, the Law Reforms (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the National University of Medical Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill, 2017.
• The House adopted a Private Member’s resolution recommending the government to establish a Women University in each district of the country. Twenty-nine lawmakers participated in the discussion over this subject consuming an hour and 33 minutes.
• The Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was dropped due to absence of the mover while the Privatization Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2015 was withdrawn by the concerned lawmaker. Similarly, two Private Members’ resolutions were dropped and two were deferred due to absence of relevant lawmakers.
• Moved by PML-N lawmakers as supplementary business, the House adopted two resolutions to condemn blasphemous content on social media and constitute a committee to probe into this matter. Twelve lawmakers spoke on these resolutions for 21 minutes.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices regarding nonexistence of food laboratories in Islamabad and poor performance of PESCO in District Lower Dir.
• The House held discussion on a Motion under Rule 218 regarding industries and production policy of the government. Three lawmakers participated in the discussion consuming nine minutes of the proceedings.
• Four other motions under Rule 218 were dropped due to absence of the movers.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers did not raise any Point of Order during the proceedings.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

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This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted.