ISLAMABAD, May 27, 2021: The Senate transacted most of its agenda on Thursday and passed the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority Bill, 2021 amid opposition’s walkout, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during third sitting of 311th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for two hours and 57 minutes.
• The sitting started at 4:10 pm against the scheduled time of 04:00 pm.
• The chairman presided over the entire proceedings.
• The deputy chairman was also present.
• The leader of the house attended the entire sitting.
• The leader of the opposition attended the sitting for two hours and fifty minutes.
• As many as 38 lawmakers (37%) were present at the outset and 36 (35%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PTI, PPPP, MQMP, JI, BNP, PkMAP and PML-Q attended the sitting.
• Two minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• The House passed the CPEC Authority Bill, 2021 which was considered as supplementary agenda after suspension of the rules. The bill was moved by the Minister of science and technology on behalf of Minister for planning and development.
• Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs presented the Annual Report of the Election Commission of Pakistan for the year 2020 in the House.
• Moved by the Minister for human rights, the House referred the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill, 2021 and the Islamabad Capital Territory  Senior Citizens Bill, 2021 to the relevant committees for further deliberation.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up two calling attention notices (CANs) related to delay in release of WAPDA’s equity contribution for the construction of Mohmand Dam and the exclusion of Chinese vaccines from the list of vaccines approved by Saudi’s authorities for pilgrims. The minister for parliamentary affairs responded to these CANs and consumed 15 minutes of the proceedings.
• The House took up 12 out of 15 starred questions while lawmakers asked 20 supplementary questions as well.
• Eleven lawmaker spoke on points of public importance for 45 minutes which were mainly related to law and order situation in Sindh and Balochistan, water distribution among provinces, attack on a journalist in Islamabad and load-shedding.

Order and Institutionalization

• The opposition and BAP lawmakers staged token walkout against non-representation of Balochistan in Board of Directors established in various federal departments.
• A BAP lawmaker staged token walkout to lodge his protest on law and order situation in the province.
• The entire opposition walked out from the House at 07:00 pm against consideration of the CPEC Authority Bill, 2021 as supplementary agenda and not referring it to the standing committee. The opposition did not return to the House till adjournment of the sitting at 07:07 pm.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Friday, May 28, 2021 at 11:00 hours.

 Transparency

• “Orders of the Day” was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

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