ISLAMABAD, March 8, 2016: The Senate considered entire agenda appearing on Orders of the Day on Tuesday during the 7^th sitting of its ongoing 126^th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Nineteen (18%) legislators were present at the start and 20 (19%) at the time of adjournment of the sitting.

Some key observations are as follows:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for five hours and 33 minutes.
• The sitting started one minute late against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Deputy Chairman presided over the sitting for four hours and two minutes while rest of the proceeding was chaired by a Member of Panel of Presiding Officers.
• The House had a prayer break for 20 minutes.
•  Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for three hours and 18 minutes.
• The Opposition Leader was not present.
• 19 (18%) senators were present at the start and 20 (19%) at the time of adjournment.
• Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, MQM, PML-N, ANP, JUI-F, PML and PPPP were present.
• One minority member was present.

Output

• The House passed the Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and the Patents (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
• Tabled by PPPP female lawmaker, the House passed a resolution in connection with Women Day urging the government to take all possible measures for women empowerment.
• The House witnessed presentation of two reports by Standing Committees. The first report was about import of various vegetables and fruits from Iran affecting the local farmers while other was about the functioning of the National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR).

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices about the closure of the Colleges of Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design Lahore and postponement of population census in the country.
• Twelve out of 34 starred questions appearing on the agenda were answered by the relevant departments while the Senators also raised 31 supplementary questions.
• An adjournment motion (AM) about behaviour of the staff of the Pakistani Foreign Missions working in developing countries was dropped due to absence of mover.
• The House discussed an AM about the statement of the Foreign Secretary of America that Saudi Arabia can purchase nuclear bomb from Pakistan. Four lawmakers spoke on it for 14 minutes while Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs concluded debate on it during his 14 minutes speech.
• The House discussed Ministerial response to questions of lawmakers pertaining to National Action Plan. Twelve lawmakers including Federal Minister for Interior spoke on it for 136 minutes.
• The House witnessed presentation of four periodical reports by the ministers under Rule 265A on the recommendations of the standing committees and the matters referred by the House.

Order and Institutionalization

• Entire Opposition staged walkout for four minutes over unsatisfactory reply to a question.
• PkMAP lawmakers also walked out of the House for three minutes. They also termed the reply of a question unsatisfactory.
• One Matter of Public Importance was discussed for one minute.

 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