ISLAMABAD, February 4, 2015: Starting 27 minutes behind the schedule, the third sitting of the National Assembly’s 18th session continued to witness low attendance of lawmakers.

The House unanimously adopted a resolution to express solidarity with people in Kashmir and demanded the United Nations and international community to play its role in resolving the dispute over the region.

Only 68 members (20%) were present at the start of the sitting and 25 (7%) at the time of adjournment. The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting, while the Opposition Leader was present for two hours and seven minutes.

The Parliamentary Secretary on Finance introduced the Offences in Respect of Banks (Special Courts) (Amendment) Bill 2015, while a PkMAP lawmaker discussed the recent petrol crisis for 10 minutes.

The House also took up a calling attention notice (CAN) sponsored by five PPPP lawmakers regarding unscheduled load shedding in various parts of the country, especially in Sindh.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for two hours and 45 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1127 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for 53 minutes, while the rest of the proceedings were presided over by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting, while the Opposition Leader was present for two hours and seven minutes.
• Sixty-eight members (20%) were present at the start and 25 (7%) at the end of the sitting. As many as 142 MNAs (42%) were present at one point of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of MQM, JI, APML, JUI-F, PML-Z, ANP and APML were present.
• Four out of 10 minority members attended the sitting.
• Fourteen members applied for leave.

Output

• The House adopted a resolution tabled by the Chairman Special Committee on Kashmir in connection to Kashmir Solidarity Day and urged the United Nations and international community to play its role in resolving the dispute over the region.
• The Parliamentary Secretary on Finance introduced the Offences in Respect of Banks (Special Courts) (Amendment) Bill 2015 which was referred to the relevant committee.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up a calling attention notice (CAN) sponsored by five PPPP lawmakers regarding unscheduled load shedding in various parts of the country, especially in Sindh.
• A PkMAP lawmaker discussed the recent petrol crisis for 10 minutes.
• Thirteen out of 34 starred questions appearing on Orders of the Day were taken up and responded by the relevant ministry. In addition, the MPAs raised 15 supplementary questions during the sitting.

Order and Institutionalization

• Fourteen points of order consumed 50 minutes of the proceedings’ time.

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.