ISLAMABAD, February 16, 2018: The Senate rejected a government’s motion seeking permission of the House for delayed presentation of the Capital Development Authority (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018 on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during fifth sitting of 273^rd session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for an hour and 51 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1007 hours against its scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the sitting for 46 minutes while rests of the proceedings were chaired by a member of Panel of Presiding Officers.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for an hour and 25 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 21 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of MQM, PPPP, PkMAP and PML-F attended the sitting.
• As many as nine lawmakers (8% of the total membership- 104) were present at the outset and 29 (28%) at the end of sitting.
• Two minority Senators attended the sitting.

Output

• The Minister of State for Capital Administration and Development Division gave explanation regarding the delay in presentation of the Capital Development Authority (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018. However, the House rejected the government’s motion seeking condonation of the delay and did not allow the laying of the ordinance. As many as 12 Senators voted in favour of the motion and 17 against it.
• Chairman Functional Committee on Problems of Less Developed Areas presented a report of the committee for the period from March 12, 2015 to February 9, 2018.
• Chairperson Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs presented the reports of the committee on the scrutiny of proposed Public-Sector Development Program (PSDP) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Financial Year 2018-19 and mid-year review of budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Financial Year 2017-18.
• Chairperson Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training presented the reports of the committee on the Federal Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the Islamabad Capital Territory Private Educational Institutions (Registration and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
• Chairman Senate referred a report of the Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training on the Area Study Centres (Amendment) Bill, 2017 back to the committee to address certain objections.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development presented a report of the committee on a Starred Question regarding number of residential colonies constructed for workers by the Workers Welfare Board, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Chair disposed of an Adjournment Motion (AM) regarding rapid decline in the foreign reserves of Pakistan due to absence of concerned lawmaker.
• The House took up six out of 29 Starred Questions for answers during the Question Hour. The lawmakers asked 14 supplementary questions as well.
• The House took up a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding the delay in payments to the Frontier Corps personnel who took part in Zarb-e-Azb Operation. Another CAN regarding difficulties being faced by the Kalash Community was deferred on the request of the relevant minister.
• The House granted extension to the Standing Committee on Interior for presentation of its report on the Miscarriage of Justice (Compensation) Bill, 2017 till March 6, 2018. The Chair did not allow the committee to seek extension for report on the Criminal Laws (Amendment) (Protection of Rights of Transgender Persons) Bill, 2017 and directed to present the report during the ongoing session.
• As many as six lawmakers spoke on Points of Public Importance consuming 13 minutes of the proceedings.

Order and Institutionalization 

• The lawmakers did not raise any point of order.
• A PPPP lawmaker staged a token walkout for three minutes over the refusal of the Chair to allow her to speak on a Point of Public Importance.

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