ISLAMABAD, February 3, 2012: Starting an hour and five minutes behind schedule, the third sitting of the National Assembly met for an hour and 55 minutes.

Members raised a total of 18 Points of Order, which consumed 61% of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.

The sitting was marked by low attendance with 114 Legislators present at the start and 68 were there when it was adjourned.

The Prime Minister attended the sitting for 70 minutes, while the Leader of the Opposition was not present. The parliamentary leaders of the PML, PMLF and BNPA were present.

Members’ participation in House proceedings 

• The National Assembly met for an hour and 30 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1105 Hours against the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours. The proceedings started late by 65 minutes.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the sitting.
• The Prime Minister was present for 70 minutes, while the Leader of the Opposition was absent.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of the PML, PMLF and BNPA were present while those of MMAP, ANP, MQM, NPP and PPPS were not present.
• The Chief Whips of PML, ANP, PMLN, MQM, PMLF, MMAP and PPPP were present.
• A total of 114 (34%) Members were present at the outset of the sitting, while 68 (20%) Members at the end of the sitting.
• Two Members applied for leave to be absent from the sitting.
• Ten 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 PPPP Members – two females and three males- was about “increase in the number of quacks damaging health of the people in the Islamabad Capital Territory”, which was directed to Ministry of National Regulations Services.
• Moved by five PMLN Members – three females and two males– the second notice was about “non-release of funds to the Federal Directorate of Education Islamabad for hiring the houses for its employees”. It was directed to the Cabinet Secretariat.
• There was no Question Hour as the prerequisite two weeks have not lapsed between the two sessions.

Output

• The Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Bill, 2012 was not taken up.

Order and institutionalization

• A total of 18 Points of Order were raised, consuming 55 minutes (61%) 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.