ISLAMABAD, October 14, 2016: The Punjab Assembly adopted a supplementary resolution to condemn Indian atrocities in Occupied Kashmir on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during first sitting of 24^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 52 minutes.
• The proceedings remained suspended for 36 minutes due to prayer break.
• The sitting started at 1541 hours against the scheduled time 1400 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 58 minutes.
• Thirty-three lawmakers (9%) were present at outset and 55 (15%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, JI and PML-Z attended the sitting.
• Three minority members were present.

Output

• Moved by the Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, the House adopted a supplementary resolution condemning the Indian atrocities in Occupied Kashmir.
• The House did not take up four resolutions seeking extensions of ordinances.
• The House referred the Punjab Criminal Prosecution Service (Constitution, Functions and Powers) (Amendment) Bill 2016 and the Punjab Animals Feed Stuff and Compound Feed Bill 2016 to the relevant standing committees.
• Four Standing Committees presented their reports on various legislative proposals referred to them.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as 12 out of 36 Starred Questions were responded to by the government during Question Hour while 15 were disposed of due to the absence of movers and two were deferred. The lawmakers also asked 26 Supplementary Questions.
• The House deferred an Adjournment Motion regarding substandard ghee.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on 13 Points of Order consuming 23 minutes of the proceedings.
• The entire opposition staged a walkout for six minutes on the issue of Panama Leaks.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on Punjab Assembly’s website.

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