ISLAMABAD, November 8, 2012: Starting 40 minutes late, the second sitting of Senate\’s 87^th session on Thursday witnessed low attendance of Senators. Only eight were present at the outset while 16 were there at the adjournment.

A Standing Committee report on a Bill about setting up Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan was presented before the House.

Only one PPPP Senator spoke for 32 minutes on the Motion under Rule 218 about the law and order in the country. The sitting was chaired by the Chairman. The Leader o f the Opposition and the parliamentary leaders of PML, BNPA, ANP, MQM and PMLF did not attend the sitting. The Leader of the House was present.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for two hours.
• The sitting started at 1640 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1600 hours. The proceedings started late by 40 minutes.
• The Chairman chaired the sitting. The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House was present while the Leader of the Opposition was absent.
• Only the parliamentary leader of NP attended the sitting.
• Eight Senators were present at the start, while 16 were present when the sitting was adjourned. Maximum 27 Senators were present during the sitting.
• Two Minority Senators attended the sitting.
• Fifteen Senators had applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Only one Senator of PPPP spoke for 32 minutes on the Motion under Rule 218 about the law and order in the country.
• Four out of 10 Questions appearing on the agenda were raised and responded. Additionally, six supplementary Questions were asked.

Output

• A Standing Committee report on the Bill – The Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan Bill 2012 – was presented before the House.
• No Bill appeared on the Orders of the Day.

Order and Institutionalization

• Three Points of Order consumed seven minutes of the sitting time.
• There was no instance of protest, walk-out or boycott.

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