• Upper House Adopts Five Resolutions Before Being Prorogued

ISLAMABAD, November 27, 2017: The Senate adopted five resolutions on Monday but could not take up the constitutional amendment bill on reallocation of National Assembly seats due to low attendance of lawmakers, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings of fifth and last sitting of 270th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for three hours and seven minutes while the proceedings remained suspended for 23 minutes due to a prayer break.
• The sitting started at 1650 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for an hour and 57 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 15 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, PTI, BNP-M, MQM, NP, PPPP, PML and BNP-A attended the sitting.
• As many as 33 lawmakers (32% of the total membership- 104) were present at the outset and 16 (15%) at the end of sitting.
• Two minority Senators attended the sitting.

Output

•      The House did not consider the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017 that sought reallocation of the National Assembly seats among the federating units.
•      Sponsored by PPPP lawmaker, the House adopted a supplementary resolution to condemn the attack on a mosque in Egypt that had resulted into the death of hundreds of people.
•      Four other resolutions appearing on the regular agenda were also adopted by the House. They demanded setting up of National Bank of Pakistan’s branch at Mangal Mela of Tehsil Domail in District Bannu; making foolproof security arrangements for the pilgrims going to Iran; imposing ban on manufacturing, import and sale of toy weapons and abolishing interest on advances being granted to the Federal Government servants.
•      A resolution to set up the Pakistan Maritime Authority was rejected by the House with a majority vote. Twelve lawmakers voted in favour of it while 14 voted against the resolution.
•     The House deferred the Area Study Centre’s (Amendment) Bill, 2017 on request of the mover.
•     The Chair informed the House that the reports on the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill, 2017 had been received from the Standing Committees and were awaiting notices under Rule 100 for their consideration in the House.
•     Three resolutions were deferred regarding laying international conventions and treaties in the Parliament; steps to control lowering of water table and facilitating those people who had left Pakistan at the time of partition to visit their homeland.
•      A resolution to encourage manufacturing of solar cells was withdrawn by its mover.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Minister for Petroleum winded up debate on an Adjournment Motion regarding the increase in prices of petroleum products.
• Minister for Commerce and Textile also concluded debate on another Adjournment Motion regarding the non-profitability of Free Trade Agreements with China.
• State Ministers for Interior, Information and Petroleum responded to three Points of Public Importance while responses to four points were deferred on the request of relevant ministers or movers.
• Seven motions appearing on the agenda under Rule 218 were deferred.
• A lawmaker spoke on a Point of Public Importance consuming two minutes of the proceedings.
•   The House passed three motions under Rule 194 (1) to grant 30-day extension to Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat for presentation of its reports on two legislative proposals and of 20- day for report on another bill.
• Another motion under Rule 194 (1) to grant extension of 60-days to Standing Committee on Law and Justice for presentation of its reports on a legislative proposal was also passed by the House.

Order and Institutionalization 

• Fifteen lawmakers spoke on 17 Points of Order consuming 67 minutes of the proceedings.

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