• PM holds in-camera briefing on Tethyan Copper Company’s case

ISLAMABAD, August 24, 2017: The Prime Minister on Thursday briefed the Senate on Tethyan Copper Company’s case while the Foreign Minister took the lawmakers into confidence over Pakistan’s perspective on the United States new policy for South Asia, observes the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings of the fourth sitting of 266^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for three hours and 41 minutes.
• The sitting started at its scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Deputy Chairman presided over the proceedings for an hour and 11 minutes while the rest of the sitting was chaired by the Chairman.
• Prime Minister attended the sitting for 45 minutes.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for three hours and 39 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition was not present.
• Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, JUI-F, BNP-M, JI and PML-F attended the sitting.
• Eleven members (10% of the total membership) were present at the outset and 39 (38%) at the time of in-camera briefing by the Prime Minister.
• One minority Senator attended the sitting.

Output

• Chairperson Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training, presented report of the Committee on the Compulsory Teaching of the Holy Quran Bill, 2017.
• Chairman Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research presented its 16th follow-up report on the proposed conversion of 1400 acres land of National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) into residential/commercial plots.
• The House granted 30-day extension to the Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges for presentation of reports on two Privilege Motions.
• The House adopted an amendment to the standing orders for insertion of a new Standing Order 1.64 regarding “Dress code for the Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Presiding Officer, Table Officers and other officers/ officials performing duties in the House.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Chair admitted an Adjournment Motion (AM) for discussion on the Pak-Iran and TAPI gas pipeline projects and the future consequence of importing costly LNG from Qatar. Two other AMs were held out of order.
• As many as eight out of 51 Starred Questions were taken up during the proceedings. The lawmakers asked 23 supplementary questions as well.
• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices regarding higher prices of medicines at Al-Shifa International Hospital and removal of 86 cable guards serving in PTCL since 2001, in Balochistan.
• Eleven lawmakers took part in the discussion on the new American policy for South Asia and Afghanistan and the remarks of the President of the United States about Pakistan. The discussion continued for an hour and 10 minutes and was concluded by the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs who made a six-minute statement on the subject.
• Prime Minister briefed the House in-camera on the implications of the decision of an Arbitration Tribunal of the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on the arbitration claims filed by Tethyan Copper Company against the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in relation to the denial of a mining lease for the Reko Diq project.

Order and Institutionalization 

• The lawmakers spoke on four Points of Order consuming seven minutes of the proceedings.

Transparency

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

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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