ISLAMABAD, April 29, 2019: The Senate passed four private members’ bills and adopted as many resolutions on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during third sitting of 288^th session:

 Members’ Participation

• The House met for three hours and 58 minutes.
• The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was also present.
• The Leader of the House was present for three hours and ten minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition was present for two hours and 39 minutes.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 12 lawmakers (11%) were present at the outset and 23 (24%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PML-N, PTI, BNP, ANP, PML-F, JUI-F and PkMAP attended the sitting.
• Three out of four minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• The House passed four private members’ bills which were the Exit from Pakistan (Control) (Amendment) Bill, 2018; the Banking Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2018; the Trained Paramedical Staff Facility Bill, 2018 and the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2018.
• A bill – the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (Amendment of Article 130) – was rejected by the House. It could not get two third majority votes required to pass constitutional amendment. At the time of voting, 57 lawmakers out of the total membership – 104 were present in the House and voted for it but the legislative proposal was rejected due to less than two third votes.
• The House witnessed introduction of five private members’ bills which included the Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Islamabad Community Integration Bill, 2019; the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Amendment of Article 198); the Capital Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the Maintenance and Welfare of Old Parents and Senior Citizens Bill, 2019.
• Out of these introduced bills, four were referred to the relevant Standing Committees while one bill – the Capital Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2019 – was referred to the Standing Committee on Law and Justice because the mover of the bill is the Chairman of the relevant Standing Committee of Interior.
• The Chair referred the Islamabad Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2018 to committee for further consideration.
• Sponsored by an MQM lawmaker, the Chair deferred four bills after the consent of the mover. These bills were the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Substitution of section 489F of PPC and amendment of Schedule-II of Cr.PC); the Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the Federal Legal Aid Bill, 2019.
• Chairperson Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges presented report of the Committee on a Privilege Motion of PPPP lawmaker against the Vice Chancellor, Provost, Chief Security Officer and Security Supervisor of the University of Peshawar.
• PPPP lawmaker withdrew his two bills under Rule 115 which were the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2018 and the SBP Banking Services Corporation (Repeal) Bill, 2018.
• The House adopted a supplementary resolution to express sorrow over sad demise of former Senator Ehsan ul Haq Piracha.
• Three other resolutions appearing on the agenda were adopted. One of the resolutions condemned the act of terrorism at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand while two others demanded steps to discourage the excessive use of plastic in the government departments and acquire all land in Zone-I, Islamabad earmarked for green belts as per master plan of the city.
• Two resolutions demanding to allocate separate quota for the students of ICT in medical and dental colleges and shift SNGPL Headquarters from Lahore to Islamabad were deferred.

  Representation and Responsiveness 

• The House debated a motion under Rule 218 about rapid increase in the population of the country. Thirteen lawmakers participated in discussion for an hour and four minutes while Minister for Parliamentary Affairs concluded debate and spoke for six minutes.
• A PTI lawmaker debated his motion for 14 minutes which was about reforms in criminal justice system and mental disorders being faced by the convicted prisoners.  The debate will remain continue on this motion it on next private members’ day.
• Four motions about high infant mortality rate, present position of Pakistan’s economy, the pace of construction work on small and medium dams and the projects of federal government for plantation of ten billion trees were deferred.

 Order and Institutionalization 

• JUI-F lawmakers walked out of the proceedings over their reservations on the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2018.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on April 30, 2019 (Tuesday) at 1500 hours.

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 proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted