ISLAMABAD, February 13, 2012: Starting an hour and 34 minutes behind schedule, the ninth sitting of the National Assembly met for two hours and 19 minutes.

The House took up all the items listed on the Agenda except the Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Bill 2012. Marked by low attendance, the sitting witnessed 80 Legislators at the start and 51 were there when it was adjourned.

Members raised 18 Points of Order, which consumed 42% of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.

The House unanimously adopted a Resolution regarding the United States congressional hearing on Balochistan and against drone attacks.

The Prime Minister attended the sitting for 35 minutes, while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 58 minutes. The parliamentary leaders of the PML, MQM and PPPS were present.

Members’ participation in House proceedings

• The National Assembly met for two hours and 19 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1834 Hours against the scheduled starting time of 1700 hours. The proceedings started late by an hour and 34 minutes.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the sitting.
• The Prime Minister was present for 35 minutes, while the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 58 minutes.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of the PML, MQM and PPPS were present while those of MMAP, ANP, NPP PMLF and BNPA were not present.
• The Chief Whips of PPPP, PMLN, MMAP and ANP were present while those of PML, MQM and PMLF were absent.
• A total of 80 (24%) Members were present at the outset and 51 (16%) at the end of the sitting.
• Six Members applied for leave to be absent from the sitting.
• Nine minority Members were present during the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) which appeared on the Orders of the Day.
• The first CAN, moved by five PMLN Members – three females and two males- was about “closure of gate no. 2 of Ghazi Brotha Project due to cracks”, which was directed to Ministry of Water and Power.
• Moved by five MQM Members –two females and three males– the second notice was about “increase in the fares of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)”. It was directed to the Ministry of Defence.
• Out of the 22 questions to be taken up during the Question Hour, only seven were put up and responded by the relevant ministries.
• Sixteen supplementary questions were raised during the sitting.

Output

• The Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Bill 2012 was not taken up.
• The Fiscal and Debt Policy Statements for the year 2011-2012 report was presented to the House.
• The House unanimously adopted a Resolution regarding the United States congressional hearing on Balochistan and against drone attacks.

Order and institutionalization

• A total of 18 Points of Order were raised, consuming 59 minutes (42%) of the sitting. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The Quorum, visibly lacking at various stages during the sitting, was not pointed out by any Member.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of National Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a Member organization of FAFEN.