ISLAMABAD, February 6, 2017: The National Assembly adopted a resolution to express solidarity and support with the people of Indian Occupied Kashmir and passed three government bills on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition didn’t attend the sitting.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during eighth sitting of the 39^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for four hours and seven minutes.
• The sitting started at 1602 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The House had a prayer break of 21 minutes.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and 34 minutes while the remaining proceedings were chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• Twenty lawmakers (6%) were present at the outset and 24 (7%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of ANP, PkMAP, PML, JUI-F, AMLP, QWP and PML-Z attended the sitting.
• Seven minority members were present.

Output

• Tabled by Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, the House adopted a resolution in connection with Kashmir Solidarity Day, urging the United Nations and the international community to play their role in resolving the lingering dispute in the region. Eight lawmakers, including Chairman of Special Committee on Kashmir Affairs, spoke for 76 minutes.
• The House passed three government bills, including the Companies Bill, 2016, the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Pakistan Air Force (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
• Seven periodical reports of various Standing Committees could not be tabled despite being in the Orders of the Day.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House did not take up two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) regarding non-inclusion of a column for persons with disabilities in the National Census Form and approval granted by NEPRA to Karachi Electric to increase price of electricity @25 paisa per unit.
• Eight out of 32 Starred Questions were taken up and answered during the Question Hour. The lawmakers asked 13 supplementary questions, as well.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on five Points of Order consuming nine minutes of the proceedings.
• The entire opposition led by PPPP staged a walkout two minutes before the adjournment of the sitting against the attack on PPPP workers in Haroonabad.

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 National Assembly proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted