ISLAMABAD, October 06, 2016: The Joint Sitting of the Parliament unanimously passed Anti-Rape and Anti-Honour Killing Bills to give maximum punishment to the perpetrators of heinous crime, and continued debate on the burning issue of Kashmir on Thursday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are key observations of the proceedings during second sitting of the Majlis-e-Shoora:

Members’ Participation

• The Majlis-e-Shoora met for eight hours and six minutes.
• The sitting started at 1034 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The House took two prayer breaks for 61 minutes.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Senate were not present while the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly attended the sitting.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the House in the Senate attended the sitting for three hours and 38 minutes, while the Leader of the Opposition in Senate attended the sitting for five hours and 26 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly was present for seven hours.
• 37 Parliamentarians (8%) were present at the outset and 98 (22%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• Fourteen federal ministers also attended the proceedings.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of ANP, JI, JUI-F, MQM, PML-F, PML-N and PPPP in the Senate were present.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of PPPP, PkMAP, JI, ANP, APML, BNP-A and QWP in the National Assembly were present.
• PTI members boycotted the session on both days.
• Eight minority members were also present.

Output

• The House passed two bills, including the Criminal Law (Amendment) (Offences in the name or on the pretext of Honour) Bill, 2016 and the Criminal Law (Amendment) (Offences Relating to Rape) Bill, 2016.
• Seventeen lawmakers expressed their views for 150 minutes on the Anti-Honour Bill titled the Criminal Law (Amendment) (Offences in the name or on the pretext of Honour) Bill, 2016.
• Another bill – the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016 – was deferred.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House continued debate on precarious situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir, including violations of both human rights and ceasefire along the Line of Control. Eight lawmakers – PML-N and PPPP (2 each) and one each of ANP, PkMAP, MQM and JI – took part in the discussion for 206 minutes.
• Minister for Finance gave a policy statement for seven minutes on Sukuk bonds.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on five Points of Order consuming 15 minutes of the proceedings.
• PPPP lawmakers protested for four minutes over the remarks of a PML-N Senator against their leadership.
• The Speaker adjourned the Joint Sitting of the Parliament until 1130 hours Friday.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers. 

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Majlis-e-Shoora proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted.