ISLAMABAD, May 19, 2015: The Senate continued to witness thin attendance of lawmakers on Tuesday as a major part of the sitting was consumed by points of order (POs), says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Only 13 lawmakers were present at the start of the sitting and 28 at the time of adjournment. The lawmakers raised 24 POs which took up 82% of the proceedings’ time.

The House passed a motion under Rule 172A to form a committee comprising all senators in order to propose steps for speedy and inexpensive justice in the country. The first meeting of the committee will be held on Wednesday.

The House also took up two calling attention notices (CANs) during the sitting. The first CAN was related to the imprisonment of 16 Pakistanis in Israeli prisons, while the other dealt with shifting the headquarters of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) from Karachi to Islamabad and the CAA Training Institute from Hyderabad to any other province.

The Chair expressed his dissatisfaction over the government’s response to the CAN related to CAA and forwarded the matter to the relevant standing committee for a report within 45 days.

Following are some key observations of the House business:

Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings

• The Senate met for two hours and 26 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1101 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader were both present.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• 13 members (12%) were present at the start and 28 (27%) at the time of adjournment.
• A maximum of 49 senators (47%) attended the sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, PML-N, MQM, PPPP, PTI, ANP and JUI-F were present.
• All the minority members were also present.
• Five members applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House disposed of an adjournment motion sponsored by a JUI-F lawmaker on hydropower projects in Kohistan due to the mover’s absence.
• The House passed a motion under Rule 172A to constitute a committee comprising all senators to propose steps for speedy and inexpensive justice in the country.
• The House also took up two calling attention notices (CANs) during the sitting. The first CAN was related to the imprisonment of 16 Pakistanis in Israeli prisons, while the other dealt with shifting the headquarters of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) from Karachi to Islamabad and the CAA Training Institute from Hyderabad to any other province.

Order and Institutionalization

• Twenty-four POs consumed 119 minutes (82%) of the sitting.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on members’ attendance was not available to the observers and the public.

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The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.