ISLAMABAD, May 19, 2016: The Senate on Thursday transacted its entire agenda appearing on ‘Order of the Day’ during 8th sitting of its 248^th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for three hours and 24 minutes. .
• The sitting started four minutes late against schedule time of 1500 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting and the Opposition Leader was present for 59 minutes.
• Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• 12 (11%) senators were present at the start and 22 (21%) at the time of adjournment.
• Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, PML-N, PML-F, ANP, NP and JI were present.
• Three minority members attended the sitting.

Output

• The House adopted a resolution to forward recommendations finalized by the Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader to government about Council of Common Interest.
• The House witnessed the presentation of reports about the Un-attended Orphans (Rehabilitation and Welfare) Bill, 2016 and Mid-Year review of budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• Minister for Finance presented the interim report of the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms. He also spoke on it for six minutes.
• The House adopted amendments in rules  12, 42, 55, 65, 70, 94, 96,130,131,138,165, 210, 278 and also allowed insertion  of  new rule 31A  and new Chapter XIIA  (new rules131A,131B and131C) in the Rules of Procedure  and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices (CANs). The first CAN was regarding the loss of 5.1 million bales of cotton worth Rs. 200 billion during 2016 while other notice was about shifting of PIA Central Reservation Control Center and Crew’s duty allocation system from Karachi to Islamabad.
• All 13 starred questions appearing on the agenda were taken by the House. In addition, the lawmakers also asked 24 supplementary questions. The Chair directed to serve notices to Secretaries Education, Health and Food over absence of ministries’ officials during Question Hour.
• The House passed a motion to extend the presentation period of report in response to a starred question about the amount spent by ERRA in AJK and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
• The Chair admitted an Adjournment Motion (AM) to discuss the ineffective mechanism and lack of oversight by the Government to protect the interest of millions of wheat growers. Twelve lawmakers including Minister for Food Security spoke on it for 85 minutes.
• Two other AMs were not taken up by the House following Rule 91 which restricts to admit one motion in one day.
• Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs gave a policy statement about reservations of Pakistan on Indian interceptor missile tests.
• An MQM lawmaker’s privilege motion against a government official in Karachi was taken up and referred to the relevant committee

Order and Institutionalization

• Ten Points of Public Importance consumed 12 minutes of the sitting.

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