ISLAMABAD, November 5, 2013: The Senate observed lack of quorum in the seventh sitting of ninety-eighth session as the House did not take up the agenda except questions on the list of business. All opposition parties, excluding the MQM, continued boycott for the fourth consecutive sitting on Tuesday.

The opposition members have been protesting over the alleged misconduct of the Interior Minister during the Oct 30 sitting of the Senate.

The House did not take up the only calling attention notice on the agenda about the regulation of media coverage of terrorism/terrorists/terrorist attacks, episodes and activities in the country.

Eleven of the 42 starred questions on the agenda were taken up. Relevant Minister answered three questions. Additionally, Members asked 19 supplementary questions.

Both the Chairman and Deputy Chairman were absent and a member of the panel of Presiding Officers presided over the entire sitting.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for an hour and 11 minutes.
• The sitting witnessed a delay of an hour and 48 minutes as it started at 1218 hours against the schedule start time of 1030 hours.
• There were 19 Senators at the outset and 17 at the end of the proceedings. At one point of time, a maximum of 25 members were present in the House.
• The parliamentary leaders of JUI-F, PML-F, PkMAP and MQM attended the sitting.
• Both the Chairman and Deputy Chairman were absent. A Member of Panel of Presiding Officers presided over the entire proceedings.
• The Leader of the House was present while the Leader of the Opposition was absent.
• None of the Member applied for the leave.
• No Minority member was present.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took 11 of the 42 starred questions on the agenda related to Ministries of Climate Change, Cabinet, Civil Aviation and Commerce. Three of the questions were answered by the relevant minister. Additionally, Senators raised 19 supplementary questions.

Order and Institutionalization

• Senators spoke on 10 points of orders consuming 20 minutes of the sitting.
• The entire opposition continued the boycott of the session due to the alleged misconduct of the Interior Minister in the fourth sitting. The MQM lawmakers did not join the opposition’s boycott.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Senators’ attendance was not available to the observers and the public.  

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization; a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions excepted