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ISLAMABAD, May 31, 2019: The single-sitting Senate session was prorogued sine die on Friday after passing a resolution condemning the reference against superior courts’ judges and rejecting a government bill to increase the number of judges in the Islamabad High Court, observes the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during first and last sitting of 289^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour and 41 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1037 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was also present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for an hour and 26 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition was present for two hours and 22 minutes.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 11 lawmakers (10%) were present at the outset and 49 (47%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, ANP, PTI, PPPP, PML-N and MQM attended the sitting.
• Two out of four minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• Moved by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House rejected a motion for the consideration of the Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
• The House approved a government motion dispensing with the requirement of supplying the copies of the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority Bill, 2019 two days prior to its consideration. However, the House did not proceed to the consideration of the bill on the insistence of the opposition to the contrary. As many as nine lawmakers debated the bill for 29 minutes.
• The House referred the Heavy Industries Taxila Board (Amendment) Bill, 2019 to the relevant committee following its first reading.
• Moved by the Leader of the Opposition, the House passed a resolution condemning the filing of references against superior courts’ judges without intimation to them.  The resolution was moved as supplementary agenda item without inclusion in the Orders of the Day.
• On behalf of the Chairman Standing Committee on Law and Justice, a member of the committee presented its reports on the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (Omission of Clause (2) of Article 30), the Capital Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
• On behalf of Chairperson Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, a member of the committee presented its reports on a Calling Attention Notice regarding report of the working group of the Election Commission of Pakistan on e-voting for overseas Pakistanis and on a point of public importance about stoppage of funds for National Institute of Blood Diseases.
• On behalf of the Chairperson Standing Committee on Maritime Affairs, a member of the Committee presented its report on a point of public importance regarding delay in payment of salaries to the workers of Port Qasim Authority.
• On behalf of the Chairman Standing Committee on Housing and Works, a member of the committee presented its report on the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority Bill, 2019.
• On behalf of Chairman Standing Committee on Power, a member of the committee presented its report on a point of public importance regarding award of payment to the owners of land acquired for Suki Kinari Hydel Project.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• On a motion by Leader of the House, the House deferred the Question Hour.

Order and Institutionalization

• As many as two lawmakers raised points of order consuming eight minutes.
• The treasury lawmakers protested on floor of the House for three minutes against rejection of the Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill. They also protested for two minutes before the dais of Chairman against the suspension of the House Rules of Procedure for consideration of a supplementary resolution.

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 proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted