ISLAMABAD, May 11, 2016: The third sitting of 248^th session of Senate witnessed presentation of two Ordinances on Wednesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet.

Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for an hour and 59 minutes. .
• The sitting started at 1503 hours against its scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was also present.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting and the Opposition Leader was present for 74 minutes.
• Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• 18 (17%) senators were present at the start and 16 (15%) at the time of adjournment.
• Parliamentary leaders of JUI-F, PkMAP, BNP-M, PPPP, PML-N, PML, ANP, NP, PTI and MQM were present.
• Three minority members were present.

Outut

• The House witnessed presentation of two Ordinances including the Credit Bureaus (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016 and
  the State Life Insurance Corporation (Re-organization and Conversion) Ordinance, 2016.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Chair admitted an adjournment motion for two hours discussion regarding withdrawal of proposed subsidy on sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan by the United States Administration.
• The House did not take up two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) due to absence of their sponsoring members which were  regarding issuance of offer letters by  the  Federal  Government  Employees  Housing Foundation only  to  some  blue eyed bureaucrats and continuous delay in 8^th NFC Award.
• The House took 19 out of 33 starred questions appearing on the agenda. In addition, the lawmakers also asked 39 supplementary questions.
• An MQM lawmaker’s privilege motion against Secretary Interior was taken up and referred to the relevant committee.

Order and Institutionalization

• Twelve Points of Order consumed 32 minutes of the sitting.
• The Opposition boycotted the sitting at 1617 hours against the absence of Prime Minister and did not return till adjournment of sitting at 1702 hours.

Transparency

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

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