ISLAMABAD, March 11, 2014: The Senate, on the last day of its 11th Parliamentary year, witnessed the introduction of a bill seeking amendment to Federal Public Service Commission Ordinance (FPSC), 1977 during 10^th sitting of its 102nd session on Tuesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet based on direct observation of the proceedings.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs introduced the FPSC (Amendment) Bill, 2014 through a motion. Thirteen legislators – PPPP (4), ANP (3) and one each of JUI-F, PML-N, PML, PkMAP, MQM and an Independent lawmaker spoke on the bill, consuming 90 minutes – 76 percent – of the sitting time. The bill was referred to the relevant committee.

Sponsored by four ANP Senators, the House took up a calling attention notice (CAN) regarding Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Minister’s offer to the Taliban for establishing their office in Peshawar.

Tuesday was the last day of the parliamentary year of the Upper House as the Chair prorogued the House sine die.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for an hour and 59 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1126 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours with a delay of 56 minutes.
• A member of the panel of chairpersons presided over the entire sitting.
• Fifteen senators were present at the outset while 28 were there at the adjournment. A maximum of 38 members were observed to be present at a point during the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of ANP, PML-N and PkMAP attended the proceedings.
• One minority member attended the sitting.
• Twelve members applied for leave.
• The Leader of the House was present during the entire sitting while the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.

Output

• Introduced by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, the House consumed 76 % of the sitting time over discussion on the FPSC (Amendment) Bill. The bill was referred to the relevant committee.
• Thirteen legislators – PPPP (4), ANP (3) and one each of JUI-F, PML-N, PML, PkMAP, MQM and an Independent lawmaker—participated in debate. The bill was introduced in the House through a motion.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Sponsored by four ANP Senators, the House took up a calling attention notice (CAN) regarding the KP Provincial Minister’s offer to the Taliban for establishing their office in Peshawar.

Order and Institutionalization

• Single point of order consumed two minutes of the proceedings.
• Opposition members except MQM walked out of the session for four minutes for not getting satisfactory reply on CAN.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on senators’ attendance was not available to the observers and the public.

This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of FAFEN and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization; a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions excepted.