ISLAMABAD, November 24, 2017: The Senate debated an Adjournment Motion on Friday regarding the implications of the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) signed with China, observes the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during fourth sitting of the 270^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for two hours and 29 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1035 hours against its scheduled time of 1030 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 40 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, NP and BNP-M were present.
• As many as 12 lawmakers (11% of the total membership- 104) were present at the outset and 14 (13%) at the end of sitting.
• One minority Senator attended the sitting.

Output

• The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs introduced the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2017. The House referred the bill to the relevant committee.
• The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs presented the half yearly report of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in respect of its activities as required under section 53 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), 2016. The Chair gave his ruling on the interpretation of the section 53 of PECA, 2016.

Representation and Responsiveness 

• The Chair rejected an Adjournment Motion (AM) regarding the revelations made by the Annual Flagship Report of World Bank about Pakistan’s tax system.
• The House granted 30-day extension to the Standing Committee of Interior for presentation of its reports on the Criminal Laws (Amendment) (Protection of Rights of Transgender Persons) Bill, 2017 and the Miscarriage of Justice (Compensation) Bill, 2017.
• The House deferred a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding suspension of automatic weapon license due to absence of the Minister for Interior. Another CAN about proposal to sell out key assets of PIA was dropped due to absence of its movers.
• As many as eleven lawmakers participated in the discussion on an AM regarding the implications of the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) signed by Pakistan with China.  The discussion continued for an hour.
• The Chair deferred the winding up of a discussion on an AM regarding increase in the prices of petroleum products due to absence of the Minister for Petroleum.
• As many as eleven lawmakers spoke on Points of Public Importance consuming 39 minutes of the proceedings.

Order and Institutionalization 

• The lawmakers did not raise any point of order.

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