ISLAMABAD, March 17: The joint sitting of the Parliament met for an hour and three minutes, with almost 77% Membership of both the National Assembly and Senate present.

The sitting, which started 22 minutes late, met a constitutional obligation for a presidential address at the start of the new parliamentary year.

The President addressed the sitting for a total of 33 minutes. Members of the PMLN and JUIF along with a PPPP legislator staged a walkout which continued till the end of the sitting.

The Prime Minister attended the sitting for 48 minutes, while the Leader of the Opposition remained present for 19 minutes. Apart from the chief whip of MMA, all parliamentary leaders and chief whips were present during the course of the sitting.

Members’ participation in House proceedings

• The National Assembly met for an hour and three minutes.
• The joint sitting started at 1352 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1330 hours. The House proceedings started late by 22 minutes.
• The Speaker, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Senate were present.
• Except the governors of Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan, all others were present.
• The Chief Ministers of Punjab and Balochistan did attend the joint sitting.
• Joint Chief of Staff and Chief of all forces were present during the sitting.
• The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 48 and 19 minutes respectively.
• All the parliamentary leaders were present.
• Only the MMA Chief whip did not attend the sitting.
• A total of 340 (77% of the total) Members from both the Houses of the Parliament were present at the outset and 257 were at the end.  A maximum of 358 Members were present at one point of the sitting.
• The President addressed the Parliament for 33 minutes.
• Members of the PMLN and JUIF along with a PPPP legislator staged a walkout during the sitting.

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.