ISLAMABAD, November 14, 2019: The Senate clubbed three motions under Rule 218 on Thursday and discussed the dissolution of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), restriction on media and economic situation of the country, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during seventh sitting of 294th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 50 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1502 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 51 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition was not present.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 11 lawmakers (10%) were present at the outset and 15 (14%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, MQM, PkMAP, JI and PML-N attended the sitting.
• As many as two out of four minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• The House adopted a supplementary resolution to express sorrow over sad demise of former Senator Dialwar Abbas. The resolution was tabled by the Leader of the House.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Minister for Human Rights concluded debate on a motion under Rule 218 regarding curfew and lockdown in Srinagar for more than 80 days and also future strategy of the Pakistani government in this regard. The minister spoke on it for 23 minutes while five lawmakers earlier expressed their views on it for 36 minutes.
• Five lawmakers participated in debate regarding dissolution of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), restriction on media and economic situation of the country. This discussion consumed overall an hour and 20 minutes of the proceedings.

Order and Institutionalization

• Four lawmakers spoke on points of order for 15 minutes.
• The Opposition staged a token walkout during the proceedings when the Chair disallowed its lawmaker to speak on Kashmir issue.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on November 15, 2019 (Friday) at 1030 hours.

Transparency

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

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