• State Minister for Interior Responds to Calling Attention Notice on Women NIC Registration Issue

ISLAMABAD, December 13, 2017: The Senate Secretariat was directed on Wednesday not to place the government business on Orders of the Day for the next two days due to the absence of ministers in the House and non-reply of questions by the ministries, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

The Chairman passed these directions under Sub-Rule 4 of Rule 13 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate. It says, “The Chairman may initiate, when necessary, such action against those responsible for violating prestige and / or privilege of the House by act of commission or omission including action that may obstruct the working / proceedings of the House”.

The House took up a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding twelve million eligible female voters who may not be able to cast their votes in the next elections as NADRA does not have the capacity to prepare their NICs within the limited time. It was responded to by the State Minister for Interior.

Earlier, the Chair suspended the proceedings for 35 minutes for not getting reply of 14 out of 39 questions.

Following are the key observations of the proceedings during third sitting of the 271^st session.

 Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for three hours and 51 minutes while the proceedings remained suspended for 35 minutes over non-rely of questions and for 19 minutes due to prayer break.
• The sitting started at 1515 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for an hour and four minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 10 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, MQM,  PML-N, BNP-M, PPPP, NP and PML-F attended the sitting.
• As many as 14 lawmakers (13% of the total membership- 104) were present at the outset and 12 (11%) at the end of sitting.
• One minority Senator attended the sitting.

Output

• Chairperson, Functional Committee on Human Rights presented report on the issue of payment of compensation to the affectees released from Bagram Prison, Afghanistan under Civilian Victims Act or any other law.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up a CAN which was regarding twelve million eligible female voters who may not be able to cast their votes in the next elections as NADRA does not have the capacity to prepare their CNICs within the limited time. It was responded to by the State Minister for Interior.
• Another CAN about the vacant post of CEO, National Endowment Scholarships for Talent (NEST) remained unaddressed due to the absence of relevant minister.
• The Chair admitted an adjournment motion regarding key commitments made by the Federal Government to the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition without taking the Parliament into confidence.
• Another adjournment motion to repay the interest and principal amount of the huge loans in the Financial Year 2018-2019 was dropped due to the absence of its sponsor.
• The Chair disposed of an adjournment motion regarding shifting of US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as the issue had already been discussed during the first sitting of the session.
• Nine lawmakers debated an adjournment motion for 52 minutes which was about recent move of the Federal Government to delink petroleum and gas authority from provincial oversight. State Minister for Petroleum concluded debate on it during his 17 minutes speech while the Chair directed the Ministry to submit report to his office about the level of involvement of World Bank into this matter.
• Following the motion under Rule 60, five lawmakers discussed the matter of public importance about the non-construction of new Basic Education Community Schools. Federal Ministers for Interior and Federal Education and Professional Training responded to it.

 Order and Institutionalization

• Eleven lawmakers spoke on Point of Public Importance consuming 31 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