Senate Refers Back Report on Anti-Money Laundering Bill to Committee

ISLAMABAD, January 21, 2020: The Senate referred back reports on two legislative proposals including the Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2019 to the Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs due to errors in them, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Tuesday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 12th sitting of the 295th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The House met for two hours and 34 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 attended the sitting for two hours and 19 minutes.
  • The Leader of the Opposition was present for two hours and four
  • As many as 15 lawmakers (14%) were present at the outset and 24 (23%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of JI, PML-N, PTI, PML-F, BNP-M, PkMAP and PPPP attended the sitting.
  • As many as two out of four minority lawmakers were present.

 Output

  • The Chair referred back reports on the Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the Foreign Exchange Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2019 to the Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs following the request of its Chairman due to errors in them.
  • The House granted extension of 60 working days to Standing Committee on Interior for presentation of its report on the Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
  • The House discussed the report of Functional Committee on Problems of Less Developed Areas about its meetings and visits to the Districts Badin, Tharparkar and Karachi from January 8 to January 11, 2019. Six lawmakers participated in the debate on it for 50 minutes

 Representation and Responsiveness 

  • A motion under Rule 157 (2) about the Annual Report of the National Commission on the Status of Women for the year 2017 was not discussed.
  • A motion of thanks expressing gratitude to the President of Pakistan for his address to the Parliament on September 12, 2019 was not considered.
  • The House took up 18 out of 50 starred questions while lawmakers asked 28 supplementary questions as well.
  • Minister for National Food Security and Research gave 15-minute statement on recent flour crisis in the country. Later, three lawmakers including the Leader of the Opposition spoke on it for 11 minutes.

 Order and Institutionalization

  • Four lawmakers spoke on points of order for 10 minutes.
  • The House was adjourned to meet again on January 24, 2020 (Friday) at 1030 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