ISLAMABAD, January 10, 2014: The Upper House of Parliament unanimously adopted a resolution to condemn the recent terrorist attacks while witnessing the introduction of an ordinance in the absence of parliamentary leaders and ministers during the 4^th sitting of 100^th session of the Senate, on Friday, says Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet based on direct observation of the House.

The House adopted a supplementary resolution condemning the recent terrorists’ attacks in which a senior police official was killed in Karachi and a student lost his life in Hangu. Two senators belonging to MQM and ANP staged token walkouts separately on the killing of a senior police official in the provincial capital of Sindh on Thursday.

Additionally, the minister for parliamentary affairs presented the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 before the House, which was subsequently sent to the relevant standing committee.

Low attendance was observed as only 17 senators were present at the outset while a maximum of 28 were there at the adjournment of the proceedings. Only the Parliamentary leader of PML-F attended the sitting.

Ten out of 18 Starred Questions addressed to the Cabinet Secretariat, Aviation Department and Commerce and Textile Industry Ministry were taken up by the House. The ministers of the first two ministries mentioned above were not present to provide verbal answers to the questions.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings:

• Senate met for an hour and 39 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1106 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours, witnessing a delay of 36 minutes.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Chairman was absent.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire proceedings while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 35 minutes.
• Seventeen senators were present at the outset while a maximum 28 at the adjournment of the proceedings.
• Only the Parliamentary leader of PML-F attended the sitting.
• Two minority senators attended the proceedings.
• Eight members applied for leave.

Output

• Introduced by the minister for parliamentary affairs, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 was sent to the relevant standing committee.
• The House unanimously adopted a supplementary resolution to condemn the killings of a senior police officer in Karachi and a student in Hangu in terrorist attacks. The resolution was tabled by a PPPP lawmaker.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Ten out of 18 Starred Questions – requiring written and oral replies- were taken up by the House. Additionally, lawmakers asked 32 supplementary questions. The questions were addressed to the Cabinet Secretariat, Aviation Department and Commerce and Textile Industry Ministry. The ministers of the earlier two ministries were not present to provide verbal answers to questions.
• The House took up a PML-N sponsored calling attention notice regarding the kidnapping of a Hindu school teacher from Peshawar and forcing her to change her faith.

Order and Institutionalization

• Seven points of order were raised, consuming 10 minutes of the sitting time.
• An MQM and ANP member staged a token walkout each on the killing of a senior police official in Karachi on Thursday (yesterday).

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