ISLAMABAD, July 19, 2016: The Senate transacted most of its agenda during the second sitting of its 250^th session on Tuesday, reports Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are some key observations of the House business:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for three hours and 57 minutes.
• The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Chairman chaired the entire sitting while Deputy Chairman was also present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for three hours and 50 minutes while the Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and 34 minutes.
•  Parliamentary leaders of ANP, PTI, PkMAP, MQM, PML, PML-N, JUI-F and JI attended the sitting.
• Twelve members (11% of the total membership – 104) were present at the outset and 19 members (18%) at the end of the sitting.
• Three minority Senators attended the sitting.

Output

• Introduced by State Minister for Water and Power, the House passed the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
• State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs introduced the State Life Insurance Corporation (Re-organization and Conversion) Bill, 2016 and the Special Economic Zones (Amendment) Bill, 2016. Both bills were referred to the relevant standing committee for further deliberations.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan presented report of the Committee on budgetary allocations and its utilization by the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan for the financial year 2015-16.
• Chairman, Standing Committee on Communications presented special report of the Committee for the period from June, 2015 to till date.
• Draft Code of Conduct for Senators as finalized by the House Business Advisory Committee was laid in the House for information and feedback of Members before operationalization.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• The House passed two motions under Rule 194 (1) to extend the presentation period of reports on the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill, 2016 and non-settlement of long standing issue of peasants of Okara farms.
•  The House took up two Calling Attention Notices (CANs). The first CAN was about the jobs  security of teachers and employees of Colony Boards and T&T Colony Harripur while other was regarding obsolete flood warning radars in Pakistan  and non-implementation of Early Warning System Project.
• The House took 23 out of 32 starred questions appearing on the agenda. In addition, the lawmakers also asked 37 supplementary questions.
• The Chair admitted an adjournment motion for discussion which was regarding aggression by the Indian Forces in occupied Kashmir which resulted into killing and injuries of innocent Kashmiris.
• Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs gave a statement in the House regarding remarks of US lawmakers about Pakistan. He spoke about it for seven minutes.

Order and Institutionalization 

• Seventeen Points of Public Importance consumed 105 minutes of the proceeding.

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