• Domestic Violence Bill Remained Unaddressed
• Sitting starts after two hours and 42 minutes delay

ISLAMABAD, April 12, 2012: Starting two hours and 42 minutes behind schedule, the last Joint Sitting of the Parliament, which met for an hour and 44 minutes on Thursday, unanimously adopted a Resolution on national interest and foreign policy.

Four Legislators – the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, Chairman PCNS and parliamentary leader of MMAP – spoke on the Resolution for 93 minutes.

The Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill, 2009 remained unaddressed.

A total of 242 (from both the Houses) Legislators were present at the start while 224 were there when the sitting was adjourned. A maximum of 292 Members were present during one point of the sitting.

None of the parliamentary leaders attended the proceedings.

Legislators’ participation in Parliament proceedings

• The Joint Sitting met for an hour and 44 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1942 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1700 hours. The proceedings started late by two hours and 42 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting.
• The Prime Minister attended the sitting for 99 minutes while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 73 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of the PML, MQM and MMAP attended the sitting.
• The Chief Whips of the MMAP, ANP and MQM were present.
• A total of 242 legislators were present at the start and 224 at the end of the sitting. A maximum of 292 Members were present during one point of the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• No Calling Attention Notices appeared on the Orders of the Day

Parliamentary Output

• The Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill 2009 was not taken up by the House.
• The House unanimously adopted a Resolution on national interest and foreign policy. Four Members – two PPPP and one each of PMLN and MMAP – spoke on the subject for 93 minutes.

Order and institutionalization

• No Points of Order were raised during the sitting.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Legislators’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.

 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.