ISLAMABAD, July 17, 2020: The Senate transacted its entire agenda on Friday and witnessed presentation of four reports of Standing Committee on Interior on as many legislative proposals, says Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the third sitting of the 300^th session:

 Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for two hours and 22 minutes.
• The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire proceedings.
• The Deputy Chairman was also present.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and 53 minutes.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 14 lawmakers (13%) were present at the outset and 10 (9%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PML-N, PPPP, JI, MQM, JUI-F, PkMAP and BNP-M attended the sitting.
• Three minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• Chairman Standing Committee on Interior presented reports of the Committee on the Rights of Persons Arrested, Detained or under Custodial Investigation Bill, 2020; the Islamabad Prevention of Beggary Bill, 2020; the Islamabad Consumers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Anti-terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony presented report of the Committee on a point of public importance regarding interrogation of Umrah Zaireen at Islamabad Airport.
• Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs laid the Annual Report of the National Economic Council for the Financial Year 2018-19.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs responded to a Calling Attention Notice about the proposed plan of the government to curtail the retirement age of the government employees from 60 to 55 years and depriving them from their monthly pension.
• The House took up 11 out of 40 starred questions while lawmakers also asked 22 supplementary questions. Four questions related to Ministry of Water Resources were deferred on the request of relevant minister while remaining questions were considered to be laid on the table of the House due to absence of their movers.
• Five lawmakers and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs spoke on points of public importance for 55 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• The opposition lawmakers walked out from the proceedings at 1240 hours against criticism of Leader of the House on their leadership during his speech. They did not return to the House till adjournment of the sitting at 1252 hours.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on July 20, 2020 (Monday) at 1600 hours.

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