ISLAMABAD, June 8, 2020: The Senate passed four private members’ bills and referred seven other bills to the relevant committees for their further consideration, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Monday.

 Following are key observations of the House proceedings during second sitting of the 299^th session:

 Members’ Participation

• The House met for four hours and 11 minutes.
• The sitting started at its scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition was not present.
• Fifteen lawmakers (14%) were present at the outset and 10 (9%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of JI, PkMAP, BNP-M, PPPP and MQM attended the sitting.
• Two out of four minority lawmakers was present.

Output

• The House passed four private members’ bills which were the Maintenance and Welfare of Old Parents and Senior Citizens Bill, 2019; the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the Islamabad Pure Food Authority Bill, 2019.
• Six private members’ bills were referred to the relevant committees which were the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Insertion of new Article 25B); the Working Women (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2020, the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Amendment of Article 89) and the Pakistan Environmental Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
• Two PPPP lawmakers separately sponsored identical legislative proposals namely the Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Omission of Section 124A) which were clubbed together and referred to the relevant committee as the movers agreed on it.
• The House deferred two bills due to the absence of mover which were the Muslim Family Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Amendment of Article 100).
• Another bill – the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Amendment of Article 198) – was also deferred as the mover agreed for its consideration in any of the next sittings.
• An MQM lawmaker withdrew his three bills following motions under Rule 115 which were the Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
• The House adopted six resolutions which demanded the government to introduce an up-to-date system for disposal of garbage in Islamabad; celebrate the 15th day of Ramazan ul Mubarak as Orphan’s Day on official and unofficial level; appoint ambassadors of Pakistan against the 20% quota reserved for non-career diplomats; take immediate steps for approval and facilitation of solar and wind energy projects in Balochistan; repatriate officials working on deputation for last three years to their parent departments and allow prohibited bore (PB) arms licences to all Parliamentarians.
• Sponsored by a JI lawmaker, the Chair deferred a resolution to fix the minimum wage for labourers at par with the price of one tola gold after consent of the mover.
• A resolution demanding to introduce uniform pay scales for all the Government employees was dropped as its mover requested for same. The resolution would be tabled again after change of its language.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• An MQM lawmaker discussed a motion under Rule 218 for 11 minutes which was regarding need for reforms in Gilgit-Baltistan. Later, it was agreed to take up this motion on next Private Member’s Day following the proposal by the Leader of the House.
• The House discussed another motion about non-establishment of commission under the National Commission on the Rights of Child Act, 2017. Two lawmakers – one each from JI, PML-N – discussed it for 12 minutes. However, the Ministers for Human Rights and Information and Broadcasting informed the House about establishment of this Commission.
• Two motions under Rule 218 were dropped due to the absence of their mover. These motions were regarding restructuring of the loss-making public sector enterprises and increase in railway accidents during the last one and half year.
• A motion regarding the share and projects of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Public Sector Development Program for the fiscal year 2019-20 was discussed. A JI lawmaker and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs spoke on it for 16 minutes.
• Thirteen lawmakers spoke on matters of public importance for an hour and 29 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• Senators belonging to Balochistan walked out from the proceedings of the House for four minutes against neglecting their recommendations for various sectors in the upcoming budget.
• Four lawmakers spoke on points of order for 26 minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on June 10, 2020 (Wednesday) at 1600 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 proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted