ISLAMABAD, January 11, 2015: The Senate adopted five resolutions amid low attendance of lawmakers here during the first sitting of its 123rd session on Monday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet.

Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for three hours and 21 minutes.
• The sitting started two minutes late against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The House had a prayer break for 16 minutes.
• A member of Panel of Chairperson chaired the sitting for 11 minutes while rest of the proceeding was presided over by the Chairman.
• Prime Minister and Deputy Chairman were not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting.
• The Opposition Leader did not attend the sitting.
• Federal Ministers for Climate Change, Inter-Provincial Coordination, SAFRON and State Ministers for Interior, Parliamentary Affairs, CADD and Petroleum & Natural Resources were present.
• Fourteen (13%) senators were present at the start and 22 (21%) at the time of adjournment
• Parliamentary leaders of JUI-F, PPPP, MQM, BNP-M, PML, PkMAP and PML-N were present.
• One minority member was present.

Output

• The House adopted four resolutions unanimously and one was passed with majority vote.
• The unanimous resolutions urged the government to establish new residential sectors in Islamabad, explore new markets for Pakistani goods, ban VIP protocol and improve performance of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC).
• Another resolution seeking grant of an additional amount of Rs. 2 billion to NACTA was adopted with majority vote. Eight lawmakers spoke on it for 25 minutes.
• The House witnessed introduction of the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2015 (Omission of Article 182). The bill is about appointment of ad-hoc judges in apex court.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Eighteen lawmakers and the Chairman Senate spoke for 106 minutes on a motion under Rule 218 about revival of student unions in the educational institutions in the country particularly in colleges and universities. The Chair referred the issue to the House of Whole Committee for further discussion.
• Five lawmakers discussed the present position of balance of trade of the country on a motion under Rule 218.
• The House discussed another motion about the affairs of cooperative housing societies in Islamabad. Three lawmakers spoke in it for 12 minutes and the Chair referred it to the Standing Committee on Law and Justice with direction to submit report about it within one month.
• The House deferred discussion on two motions under Rule 218 on the request of the movers. Those motions were about revised Telecom Policy 2015 and privatization of public organizations without approval of Council of Common Interest.
• The House adopted a motion under Rule 194 (1) to extend the time for presentation of the report of the Standing Committee on Petroleum & Natural Resources regarding working of the current Pakistan State Oil (PSO) Board.

Order and Institutionalization

• Four points of public importance consumed seven minutes of the proceeding.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers was available to observers and media.

To download the factsheet, click here for English Version, click here for Urdu Version

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