The 37th session of the National Assembly left 76% of the Agenda items listed on the Orders of the Day unaddressed mainly due to excessive use of Points of Order which consumed a little more than half of the time.

The proceedings spanned 35 hours and 44 minutes and comprised 13 sittings. On an average, each sitting lasted two hours and 45 minutes. The House only took up 24% of the agenda items presented on the Orders of the Day. Like previous sessions, the agenda for the Private Members Day was ambitiously set, making it impossible for the House to complete it in a single sitting.

The Members raised a total of 250 Points of Order which consumed 52% of the total session time – 1,106 of the 2,144 minutes.

A total of 60 Points of Order were raised by the PMLN Members. The MQM raised 23, ANP and PML (19 each), MMAP (4), PPPS (2) and Independent Members (14).

The PPPP Members took the floor 109 times on Points of Order, mostly to respond to opposition’s criticism. None of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling. Unless the Chair gives a formal ruling on a Point of Order, speeches and rejoinders do not contribute to any Assembly output.

Overall 54% of the Members -139 male and 44 female – participated in the session by submitting agenda items on the Order of the Day or by taking part in the debate. In line with the participation trend observed in the previous sessions, male Parliamentarians seemed to be less active than their female counterparts. Their participation constituted 48% of their total membership of 263 while female participation was 53% of their total Membership of 77.

A party-wise analysis shows that 88% of the MQM Parliamentarians took part in the proceedings followed by PMLN’s 50%,ANP’s 46%, PML’s 39% and 20% of PMLF. The attendance of Members remained low.

Since the National Assembly Secretariat does not make the attendance record public, FAFEN conducts a headcount of Members at the beginning and end of each sitting and documents the actual time spent on the floor of the House by Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. During the session, on an average 48 Members were present at the beginning of each sitting and 62 at the end.

The Prime Minister attended 11 sittings for 16% (333 minutes) while the Leader of the Opposition was present in seven sittings for 21% (449 minutes) of the session time.

The Speaker chaired the proceedings for 19% of the session time; the Deputy Speaker 52% while the remaining 29% of the time was presided over by Members of Panel of Chairpersons. The Parliamentary Leader of the PMLF did not attend any sitting while leaders of NPP attended 10, ANP eight, PPPS seven, BNPA and MQM three each, and MMAP and PML leaders attended two sittings each.

Although the Quorum was lacking at various stages of the session, it was not pointed out by any of the Legislators.

The National Assembly passed two government bills during the session. The House took up 14 Calling Attention Notices (CANs) raised by 45 male and 24 female Members. Seven were sponsored by PMLN Members, four by PPPP, two by MQM while one was jointly tabled by MQM and MMAP Members. The House deliberated the Adjournment Motion regarding the load shedding of gas. Five PMLN Members spoke on the Motion for 42 minutes. The Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources summed up the debate.

A total of 81 out of 261 Starred Questions were taken up, at an average of 6.2 questions per sitting. The Members asked 143 Supplementary Questions. The House witnessed three walkouts. The PMLN Members walked out twice to protest shortage of gas. On the other hand, the MQM Members staged a walkout for not receiving a satisfactory response to a Calling Attention Notice on increase in CNG prices. On another occasion, a PPPP Member walked out in protest over not being granted permission to speak on a Point of Order. The ANP Members boycotted the 12th sitting over the issue of new provinces.

The MQM submitted two resolutions in the Senate for making Hazara a separate province and making province/provinces out of South Punjab. When the MQM asked for a discussion on the two resolutions, its Members got embroiled in a row with the ANP Legislators. The PMLN Legislators were of the opinion that these Resolutions should first appear on the agenda and then discussion should follow.

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