ISLAMABAD, February 04, 2013: Starting 36 minutes late, the National Assembly suspended its regular agenda to offer condolence on the death of an MNA from Balochistan.

The 10^th sitting of the ongoing 49^th session, which met for 39 minutes on Monday, was marked by low attendance as only 53 members were present at the outset and 16 at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 63 members were present at one point of sitting.

The Deputy Speaker chaired the sitting. The Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the parliamentary leaders of MQM, MMAP, ANP, PML, PMLF, PPPS 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 39 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1736 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1700 hours, witnessing a delay of 36 minutes.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the sitting.
• The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• Parliamentary leader of NPP was present while those of MQM, MMAP, ANP, PML, PMLF, PPPS and BNPA were absent.
• Chief whip of ANP attended the sitting whereas those of PPPP, PMLN, MQM, MMAP, PML, PMLF, BNPA and PPPS remained absent.
• Fifty-three members were present at the outset while 16 were there at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 63 members were present at one point of sitting.
• Four minority members attended the sitting.

 

Representation and Responsiveness

• The regular agenda was not taken up as the House offered condolences to the deceased MNA from NA-270 (Balochistan).

 

Output

• Legislative business appearing on the agenda was not taken up.

 

 

Order and Institutionalization

• Two points of order consumed two minutes.

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