ISLAMABAD, October 17, 2012: Starting 35 minutes late, the eighth sitting of ongoing 86^th session met for three hours and 25 minutes on Wednesday as it continued to witness low attendance of Senators. Only four legislators were present at the outset and 17 were there at the adjournment.

The House passed the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan Bill 2012 and took up an Adjournment Motion on devastation caused by the floods in Balochistan. Four Senators – one each of ANP, MQM, PPPP and an Independent – spoke on the Adjournment Motion for 60 minutes.

The House did not take up the Motion under rule 218 on law and order situation in the country with particular reference to target killings and sectarian violence in Balochistan, Karachi and Gilgit-Baltistan for further discussion.

The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting. However, the parliamentary leaders of NP, MQM, JUIF, PML, and BNPA did not attend the sitting.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for three hour and 25 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1635 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1600 hours. The proceedings started late by 35 minutes.
• The Chairman chaired the sitting for an hour and 45 minutes while rest of the sitting was presided over by the Deputy Chairman.
• The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition were present during the entire sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PMLF and ANP attended the sitting.
• Only four Senators were present at the outset, while 17 were present when the sitting was adjourned.
• Two Minority Senators were present.
• 13 Senators applied for leave.
• The House took a 30-minute break for prayer.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Motion under Rule 218 appearing on the Orders of the Day was not taken up by the House for further discussion.
• Five out of 17 questions were taken up. Additionally eight supplementary questions were asked.

• Four Senators – one each of ANP, MQM, PPPP and an Independent – spoke on Adjournment Motion on devastation caused by the recent floods in Balochistan for 60 minutes. The Federal Minister for Climate Change made the closing remarks on the debate on the Adjournment Motion.

Output

• The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan Bill 2012 was passed the House.

 Order and Institutionalization

• A total of 13 Points of Order consumed 40 minutes of sitting time.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Senators’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.

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