ISLAMABAD, January 17, 2018: The National Assembly passed three government bills and continued discussion on Kasur incident on Wednesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the fourth sitting of 51^st session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for three hours and 41 minutes while the proceedings remained suspended for 39 minutes due to lack of quorum.
• The sitting started at 1047 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 39 (11%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 15 (4%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, BNP-A, AJIP and ANP attended the sitting.
• Five minority members were present.

Output

• The House passed the Federal Employees Benevolent Fund and Group Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Marine Insurance Bill, 2017 and the Corporate Rehabilitation Bill, 2017.
• The House deferred the consideration of the COMSATS University Islamabad Bill, 2017.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House continued the discussion on the Motion under Rule 259 regarding the rape and murder of a minor girl in Kasur. Eight lawmakers participated in the discussion consuming 33 minutes of the proceedings.
• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices regarding the survey under Benazir Income Support Program and regularization of the teachers and non-teaching staff working under the Federal Directorate of Education, Islamabad.
• The House did not take up the Motion of Thanks to the President for his address to the Parliament.
• The House took up four out of 38 Starred Questions for answers during the Question Hour. The lawmakers asked Supplementary Questions as well.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised 11 Points of Order consuming 12 minutes of the proceedings.
• As many as 21 lawmakers raised matters of public importance under Rule 18 consuming 70 minutes of the proceedings.
• A PTI lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1056 hours which led to suspension of the proceedings for 39 minutes.
• The lawmakers belonging to JUI-F staged a walkout for 15 minutes when the Chair did not allow one of their colleagues to speak on a Point of Order.
• A PPPP lawmaker walked out from the proceedings at 1404 hours against the decision of the Chair regarding a Point of Order. She did not return to the House till adjournment of sitting.
• An ANP lawmaker staged walk out of the House at 1405 hours against gas load-shedding in various areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and did not return to the proceedings till the adjournment.

Transparency

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