ISLAMABAD, November 16, 2012: Starting 35 minutes behind the schedule the seventh sitting of 87^th session passed the Airports Security Force (Amendment) Bill 2012 on Friday.

However the House continued to witness low attendance of Senators. Only four Senators were present at the outset and 25 were there when the sitting was adjourned.

The deputy Chairman and the parliamentary leaders of PML, BNPA, MQM and PMLF did not attend the sitting.  The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition were present.

Senators of JUIF staged a walkout over raids on seminaries (Madaris) and the killings of Ulema. The walkout lasted for five minutes.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for an hour and 25 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1035 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours. The proceedings started late by 35 minutes.
• The Chairman chaired the sitting. The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of NP, ANP and JUIF were present.
• Four Senators (4%) were present at the start and 25 (24%) were present when the sitting was adjourned. A maximum of 32 Senators (31%) were present during the sitting.
• Three Senators applied for leave.
• Two minority Senators attended the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The question hour was not held because of absence of the relevant ministers.

Output

• The Airports Security Force (Amendment) Bill 2012 was passed by the House
• The Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2012 was introduced and sent to the Standing Committee.

Order and Institutionalization

• Fifteen points of order consumed 60 minutes of the sitting time.
• The JUIF legislators staged a walkout on the issue of killings of Ulema and the raids on the Madaris. The walkout lasted for five minutes.

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