ISLAMABAD, August 21, 2015: Nearly 10 percent of the members of the National Assembly attended all 14 sitting during its 24th Session that ended on August 13, says FAFEN press statement on Friday.
According to the attendance record released by the National Assembly Secretariat, as many as 34 MNAs – 20 directly elected, 13 women, one non-Muslim – attended all 14 sittings of the session. On an average, each sitting was attended by 199 members while 114 members remained absent and 26 on leave.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attended one sitting while Leader of the Opposition Syed Khurshid Shah attended nine. The parliamentary leaders of PTI and PML remained absent without leave in all 14 sittings while Awami Muslim League’s leader Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed was the most regular parliamentary leader attending 11 sittings. PkMAP leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai, JI leader Sahibzada Tariq Ullah and PML-Z leader Muhammad Ijazul Haq attended 10 sittings each.
Speaker of the National Assembly attended 11 sittings. The Deputy Speaker attended 13 sittings. Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada was the most regular among cabinet members as he attended 13 of the 14 sittings whereas the Federal Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Federal Minister of Overseas Pakistanis & Human Resource Development and Federal Minister of Commerce attended one sitting each.
Out of the 339 total members at the start of the session, 25 (7%) members did not show up in any of the 14 sittings. Nine of these members remained absent throughout the session. A female lawmaker from PML-N was on leave in all 14 sittings while the remaining 15 members were on leave in some sittings and remained absent in others. Nine members showed up in only one sitting while another nine lawmakers attended only two sittings.
More than one-fourth (92 of 339) of the members attended three to seven sittings, remaining absent or on leave during half of the session. As many as 32% (109) lawmakers attended more than half but less than 12 sittings of the last session. Additionally, 27 (8%) lawmakers missed two sittings each while appearing on the floor of the house in as many as 12 sittings.
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