ISLAMABAD, February 1, 2022: The Senate took up two-third agenda and referred three government bills to relevant committees, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet on Tuesday.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the 13th sitting of 317th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for two hours and 11 minutes.
• The sitting started 10:34 am against the scheduled time of 10:30 am.
• The chairman presided over the entire proceedings.
• The deputy chairman was not present.
• The leader of the house attended the entire sitting.
• The opposition leader was present for 55 minutes.
• The Prime Minister was not present.
• As many as 18 lawmakers (18%) were present at the outset and 33 (33%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, JI, PkMAP, ANP, PML and BAP attended the sitting.
• Three out of four minority lawmakers were present.

 Output

• The House witnessed introduction of three government bills which were referred to the relevant committees for further consideration. These bills were the Pak University of Engineering and Emerging Technology University Bill, 2022; the Protection of Parents Bill, 2022 and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
• Chairman, Standing Committee on Interior presented reports of the committee on a starred question regarding the policy of the federal government to control incidents of car lifting and on a point of public importance about incident of killing of Ms. Wajiha Swati, a Pakistani origin US citizen.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up six out of 19 starred questions while lawmakers asked 25 supplementary questions as well.
• The House adopted a motion under Rule 194 (1) granting 60-day extension to standing committee on communication for presentation of its report on the National Highways Safety (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
• Eleven lawmakers including the Minister for foreign affairs spoke on points of public importance for 55 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• The House was adjourned to meet again on Friday, February 4, 2022 at 10:30 am.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted