ISLAMABAD, February 09, 2012:  Witnessing low attendance, the 18^th sitting of the ongoing Senate session lasted 21 minutes on Thursday. Only 11 Senators were present at the onset and 17 at the end of the sitting.

All nine questions listed for the Question Hour were responded to by the relevant ministers.

The Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University Bill, 2012 was deferred.

The Leader of the House was present while the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for 21 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1640 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1600 hours. The House proceedings started 40 minutes late.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the House was present while the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of the BNP, MQM, PKMAP and the ANP attended the sitting while the leaders of the PMLN, PML, PMLF, JI, NP, JWP and the PPPS were absent.
• Eleven Senators were present at the start of the sitting whereas 17 when it was adjourned. A maximum of 18 Senators (18%) were present during one point of the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• All nine questions listed for the Question Hour were responded by the relevant ministers.

Output

• The Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University, Bill, 2012 was not taken up.

Order and Institutionalization

• Eight Points of Order consumed 15 minutes of the sitting time. However, one of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The Quorum, visibly lacking at various stages during the sitting, was not pointed out by any of the Senators.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a member organization of FAFEN