ISLAMABAD, March 04, 2013: Starting 50 minutes late, the National Assembly suspended its regular agenda to offer condolences on the death of an MNA. Fateh was also offered for a deceased former MNA and the victims of bomb blast in Karachi.

The 11^th sitting of the ongoing 50^th session of National Assembly was marked by low attendance. Only 22 members were present at the outset while 30 were there at the time of adjournment.

A member of the Panel of Chairpersons chaired the sitting as the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker were not present. The Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the parliamentary leaders of MQM, MMAP, ANP, PML, PMLF, NPP, 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 10 minutes. The sitting started at 1750 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1700 hours, witnessing a delay of 50 minutes.
• A member of the Panel of the Chairpersons chaired the entire sitting.
• The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.

• Parliamentary leader of only PPPS attended the sitting while those of MQM, MMAP, ANP, PML, PMLF, NPP, and BNPA were absent.

• The chief whips of PPPP and PMLN attended the sitting whereas those of MQM, MMAP, ANP, PML, PMLF, NPP and BNPA were not present.
• Twenty-two members (6% of the total membership) were present at the outset while 30 (9%) were present at the time of adjournment.
• One minority member attended the sitting.
• No member applied for leave.

 

Representation and Responsiveness

• Two calling attention notices (CANs) and a motion under rule 259 appearing on the agenda were not taken up.

 

Output

• Four bills appearing on the agenda left unaddressed.

 

Order and Institutionalization

• Two points of order (POs) consumed four minutes of the sitting time.

 

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