ISLAMABAD, January 15, 2015: The National Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution against blasphemous caricatures published by a French magazine during the 12th sitting of its ongoing 17th session on Thursday, says the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Fifty-one lawmakers (15%) were present at the start of the sitting and 64 (19%) at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 167 (49%) members were observed to be present at one point of the sitting.

The House took up two calling attention notices (CANs) regarding lack of amenities in Sultanpur village, Abbottabad and decrease in PIA flights between Karachi and Mohenjo-Daro.

Four reports were presented during the sitting. The Chairman Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat presented two reports on the Federal Employees Benevolent Fund and Group Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013 and the Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill 2013.

Similarly, Chairman Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research presented the report on the Seed (Amendment) Bill 2014.

Additionally, the Parliamentary Secretary for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization laid the report on the First Biannual Monitoring on the Implementation of NFC Award (July-December, 2013).

Meanwhile, a resolution tabled by a PML-N lawmaker seeking extension in Gas Infrastructure Development Cess Ordinance 2014 for 120 days with effect from January 22, 2015 was deferred by the House.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for three hours and six minutes.
• The sitting started at 1115 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting as the Speaker was absent.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting while the Opposition Leader was present for 97 minutes.
• Fifty-one lawmakers (15%) were present at the start of the sitting and 64 (19%) at the time of adjournment.
• A maximum of 167 members (49%) were present at one point of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, QWP, AMLP, PML-Z, PML and APML were present.
• Eight minority members attended the sitting.
• Twenty-six lawmakers applied for leave.

Output

• The National Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution tabled by the Railways Minister against blasphemous caricature published by a French magazine on Wednesday.
• Another resolution seeking extension in Gas Infrastructure Development Cess Ordinance 2014 for 120 days with effect from January 22, 2015 was deferred by the House. Six lawmakers – two belonging to PPPP and one each from PkMAP, PML-N, MQM and QWP – spoke on the resolution for 20 minutes.
• The Chairman Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat presented two reports on the Federal Employees Benevolent Fund and Group Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013 and the Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill 2013.
• The Chairman Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research presented the report on the Seed (Amendment) Bill 2014.
• The Parliamentary Secretary for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization laid the report on the First Biannual Monitoring on the Implementation of NFC Award (July-December, 2013).

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up a CAN sponsored by three PML-N lawmakers regarding lack of amenities in Sultanpur village, Abbottabad.
• Another CAN sponsored by five PPPP lawmakers on decrease in PIA flights between Karachi and Mohenjo-Daro was also taken up by the House.
• Eleven out of 32 questions appearing on the agenda were answered by the relevant departments while the MNAs raised 19 supplementary questions. 

Order and Institutionalization

• Twenty-one points of order consumed 54 minutes of the proceedings’ time.
• Members from FATA staged walkout at 1332 hours to lodge their protest against the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor for not taking them on board in decisions pertaining to their region. They did not return to the House till the sitting’s adjournment.
• MQM lawmakers also walked out for 15 minutes against the killing of their party workers in Sindh.

Transparency

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

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This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of FAFEN and in no way reflect the views of the European Union. This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.