ISLAMABAD, September 11, 2017: The Punjab Assembly adopted two supplementary resolutions on Monday condemning the violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and the new policy of the United States of America regarding Pakistan, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during first sitting of 31^st session:

Members’ Participation

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 26 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1640 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 proceedings for an hour and 26 minutes.
• As many as 40 MPAs (11%) were present at outset and 28 (7%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PTI, PPPP and PML-Z attended the sitting.
• Three minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• The House did not take up the legislative business appearing on Orders of the Day.
• Moved by the Leader of the Opposition, the House adopted a resolution to condemn the violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
• Moved by the Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Affairs, the House adopted a resolution condemning the recent statement and policy of the US President Donald Trump regarding Pakistan.
• The Standing Committees on Colonies, Privileges, Health and Agriculture presented their reports on matters referred to them by the House.
• The House granted two-month extension to the Standing Committees on Education, Excise & Taxation and Privileges for presentation of their reports.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as seven out of 17 Starred Questions were taken up for answers during the proceedings. The remaining 10 questions were disposed of due to absence of the movers. The lawmakers also asked 15 supplementary questions.

• The House took up an Adjournment Motion of a PPPP lawmaker regarding leakage of question papers by a private academy.

Order and Institutionalization

• The opposition lawmakers protested on floor of the House for three minutes against the violation of Election Commission of Pakistan’s code of conduct for by-election in NA-120.
• A PTI lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1902 hours which led to the adjournment of the sitting.

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.