ISLAMABAD, March 4, 2016: The Senate rejected the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (Conversion) Bill, 2015 on Friday during the 5^th sitting of its ongoing 126^th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

The bill aimed to convert PIA into Limited Company was introduced by Minister for Climate Change which was rejected by the House with majority vote.

Twenty-five (24%) legislators were present at the start and 23 (22%) at the time of adjournment of the sitting.

Some key observations are as follows:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for an hour and 55 minutes.
• The sitting started nine minutes late against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Deputy Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
•  Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting.
• The Opposition Leader attended the sitting for 99 minutes.
• 25 (24%) senators were present at the start and 23 (22%) at the time of adjournment.
• Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, PTI, ANP, PPPP, MQM, PML-F and NP were present.
• One minority member was present.

Output

• The House rejected the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (Conversion) Bill, 2015 with majority vote.
• Tabled by PPPP lawmaker, the House adopted a resolution for renovation of dilapidated federal lodges and payment of salaries to their employees on regular basis.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Inter-Provincial Coordination presented report regarding non-observance of quota for the handicapped persons in all the provinces.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House passed two motions to extend the time for presentation of two reports. The first report was related to Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources while other was of Special Committee on twenty-four demands made by the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
• Nineteen out of 38 starred questions appearing on the agenda were answered by the relevant departments while the Senators also raised 36 supplementary questions.
• Two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) about European Union’s recent report commenting on various issues of human rights in Pakistan and aftermath of upcoming rainy season in Islamabad and Rawalpindi were taken up. Both CANs were responded to by the Minister for Climate Change.

Order and Institutionalization

• Entire Opposition staged walkout for two minutes against the remarks of Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources during question hour about insufficiency of provinces in gas production.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.

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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