ISLAMABAD, March 07, 2017: The National Assembly transacted most of Private Members’ business, including 15 bills and five resolutions on Tuesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during second sitting of the 40^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for three hours and 54 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1034 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for 52 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 12 minutes.
• Fourteen lawmakers (6%) were present at the outset and 39 (20%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, JI, PML-Z, QWP-S, APML, AMLP and ANP attended the sitting.
• Eight minority members were present.

Output

• The Private Members introduced the Microfinance Institutions (Amendment) Bill, 2017, two amendments to the criminal laws namely the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Children (Pledging of Labour) (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers Health (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Islamabad Capital Territory Prohibition of Employment of Children Bill, 2017, the Islamabad Capital Territory Prohibition of Private Money Lending Bill, 2017 and the Emigration (Amendment) Bill, 2017. The House referred these bills to the relevant standing committees.
• The House deferred the Religious Scholars, Ulema and Pesh Imams (Prayers Leaders) Welfare Bill, 2017 and the Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
• The Police Order (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was withdrawn while the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was dropped.
• Chairman Standing Committee on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination presented the reports of the committees on the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Medical Consultancy and Other Services (Rationalization of Fees) Bill, 2016.
• The House passed four Private Members’ resolutions recommending the government to upgrade Sukkur International Airport, construct gates and protection walls around Railways tracks, control unemployment and discontinue deduction of accommodation maintenance charges from the salaries of Federal Government employees. The last resolution was adopted despite opposition by the treasury benches. Five lawmakers discussed these resolutions for seven minutes.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up a Calling Attention Notice regarding a missing column for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the national census form. Another CAN was not addressed.
• The House discussed two Motions under Rule 259 regarding foreign policy and performance of the Aviation Division. Nineteen lawmakers spoke on the subjects for two hours and three minutes.
• The House dropped two Motions under Rule 259 due to the absence of movers while two other motions were left unaddressed.

Order and Institutionalization

• A lawmaker spoke on a Point of Order consuming two minutes of the sitting.

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