ISLAMABAD, July 14, 2021: The Senate took up 83 percent of its agenda on Wednesday and consumed 42 percent of the proceedings in points of public importance, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in the Daily Factsheet.

 Following are key observations of the House proceedings during third sitting of 313rd session:

 Members’ Participation

• The House met for three hours and 16 minutes.
• The sitting started at 10:04 am against the scheduled time of 10:00 am.
• The chairman presided over the proceedings for an hour and 38 minutes, while the remaining sitting was chaired by the deputy chairman.
• The leader of the House attended the sitting for two hours and 34 minutes.
• The leader of the opposition was not present.
• As many as 24 lawmakers (24 percent) were present at the outset and 16 (16 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PML-N, JUIP and JI attended the sitting.
• Three out of four minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• Moved by Minister for Science and Technology, the House passed the Enforcement of Women’s Property Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
• Sponsored by an Independent lawmaker, the House adopted a supplementary resolution appreciating the step of reviving tax exemption for erstwhile federal administered tribal areas (FATA) and provincial administered tribal areas (PATA) from 2021 to 2023 and recommending the government to retrospectively extend its effect as committed during the time of merger.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Minister of State for parliamentary Affairs and Minister for Aviation responded to calling attention notices regarding poor condition of Burhan-Shah Maqsood Section of Hazara Motorway and difficulties being faced by Pakistanis due to over booking and cancellation of flights of various Air lines, respectively.
• The House took up six out of 19 starred questions, while lawmakers also asked 15 supplementary questions.
• The House did not initiate debate on motion of thanks to the President for his address to Parliament.
• Eight lawmakers spoke on points of public importance for an hour and 22 minutes related to political developments and governance.

Order and Institutionalization

• Four lawmakers including the leader of the House spoke on points of order for 30 minutes related to political issues.
• Lawmakers belonging to the opposition protested for 15 minutes during the proceedings against the remarks of a federal minister about their leaderships during election campaign in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Friday, July 16, 2021 at 10:00 am.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of Senators is available on Senate website.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted