ISLAMABAD, January 13, 2012: The National Assembly witnessed relatively better attendance of Members during the 2^nd sitting of the ongoing session.  A total of 141 Legislators were present at the start of the sitting while 212 were there at the end.

With the exception of the parliamentary leader of MMAP, all other leaders were present.  The sitting lasted an hour and 17 minutes and managed to take up a Calling Attention Notice, and one government Bill. A Standing Committee Report was also presented.

A Resolution on supremacy of democracy was presented as supplementary agenda but was deferred until Monday on the request of the Opposition Benches. Four Points of Order were raised, which consumed 71% of the sitting time.

The Prime Minister attended the sitting for 66 minutes, while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 60 minutes.

Members’ participation in House proceedings

• The National Assembly met for an hour and 17 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1133 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1030 hours. The proceedings were delayed by an hour and three minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting. The Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Prime Minister was present for 66 minutes while the Leader of the Opposition was there for 60 minutes.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of PML, ANP, MQM, PPPS, BNPA and NPP were present while those of the MMAP and PMLF were absent.
• The Chief Whips of ANP, PMLN, MQM, PML and PPPP were present while the MMAP and PMLF were absent.
• A total of 141 (42%) Members were present at the start of the sitting and 212 (63%) at the end. Seven Members applied for leave to be absent from the sitting.
• Nine out of 10 minority Members were present.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up one out of two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) which appeared on the Orders of the Day.
• Moved by five PMLN female Members the CAN was regarding “the spending of billions of rupees on getting aircraft instead of repairing its grounded fleet”, which was directed to the Ministry of Defence.
• The Question Hour was not held.

Output

• Two Bills appeared on the Orders of the Day. The Career Structure for Health Personnel Bill, 2012 was introduced.
• The Annual Report of Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) was presented.
• A Resolution on “supremacy of democracy” was presented as supplementary Agenda. The debate on the Resolution is likely to start from Monday (January 16, 2012).

Order and institutionalization

• Four Points of Order were raised which consumed 55 minutes (71%) of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• There were no instances of protests, walkouts or boycotts.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of National Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a Member organization of FAFEN.