ISLAMABAD, September 9, 2016: The Senate took up two third of the agenda before being prorogued sine die on Friday during the last sitting of its 252^nd session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House business in 5^th sitting:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for two hours and 32 minutes.
• The sitting started five minutes behind the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• A Member of Panel of Presiding Officers chaired the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was not present.
• Parliamentary leaders of PML-F, PPPP, PkMAP, BNP-M, MQM, PTI, PML and PML-N attended the sitting.
• Twelve members (11% of the total membership – 104) were present at the outset and 15 (14%) at the end of the sitting.
• Two minority Senators attended the sitting.

Output

• Introduced by the State Minister for Interior, the House referred the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to the relevant committee for further deliberations.
• The House witnessed presentation of two reports by Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat and one by Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research.
• A special report by Senate Standing Committee on SAFRON for the period from 20^th May, 2015 to 27^th July, 2016, containing key recommendations was presented before the House.
• A special report of the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat regarding “Public Petition No. 1040 submitted by daily wages lecturers  and  junior  lady  teachers  serving  under  Federal  Directorate  of Education, Islamabad  was presented and adopted by the House.
• The periodical reports on the agenda were not presented regarding recommendations of the Standing Committees on Information, National Health Services and the resolutions passed by the House related to Ministries of Interior and SAFRON.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• The House did not take up two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) on the agenda due to the ministerial absence.
• A motion under Rule 194 (1) to extend the presentation period of report on a Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was also passed by the House.
• The House took all 23 Starred Questions appearing on the agenda. In addition, the lawmakers also asked 14 Supplementary Questions.
• Tabled by the Leader of the House, the House adopted a motion authorizing Chairman Senate to forward names of six Senators in representation in PAC.
• Seven lawmakers participated in the debate on a Motion of Thanks to express gratitude to the President for his address to both Houses of the Parliament assembled together on June 1, 2016. The legislators spoke on it for 85 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization 

• Three Points of Public Importance consumed three 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