ISLAMABAD, February 10, 2016: The Senate on Wednesday took up entire agenda on Orders of the Day and discussed the issue of Pakistan International Airlines during 1^st sitting of 124^th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Some key observations are as follows:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for four hours and 37 minutes.
• The sitting started at its scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was present.
• The House had a prayer break for 19 minutes.
• The Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.
• Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• Fourteen (13%) senators were present at the start and 37 (36%) at the time of adjournment.
• Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PkMAP, BNP-M, ANP, PML, PML-N, MQM, PTI, JUI-F and NP were present.
• All four minority members were present.

Output

• Introduced by PML-N lawmaker, the House passed the Minimum Wages for Unskilled Workers (Amendment) Bill, 2015.
• The House adopted a resolution to pay tribute to Intizar Hussain for his literary contributions.
• Minister for Law and Justice presented the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015 which was referred to the relevant committee.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Defence presented report on the National University of Medical Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2015.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Water and Power presented reports on starred question No. 2 asked by Senator Mohammad Azam Khan Swati on February 26, 2008 and starred question 159, asked by Senator Col. (R) Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi on February 7, 2012.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Following the ruling of the chair, the House discussed a motion under Rule 218 sponsored by the Opposition Leader  regarding crisis in PIA. Chairman Senate and 27 lawmakers spoke on it for 216 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• The Opposition lawmakers walked out of the House at 1937 hours when the Chair did not allow the Opposition Leader to table a resolution.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.

To download this factsheet, click here

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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.