ISLAMABAD, August 04, 2014: The National Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a resolution against the Israeli aggression in Gaza, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet. The resolution was moved by Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs.

Nine members of various political parties spoke on an adjournment motion condemning the Israeli aggression against innocent Palestinians. The JUI-F members spoke for 17 minutes, PML-N 14, PTI 11, JI nine and PPPP seven minutes.

The MQM lawmakers walked out from the House against alleged raid of Rangers personnel at the residence of Dr Farooq Sattar. However, they returned to the House after 36 minutes. The parliamentary leader of the AMLP boycotted the sitting as the Chair did not allow him to speak on the imposition of Article-245 in Islamabad.

The House offered fateha for former Deputy Speaker Dr. Mrs Ashraf Abbasi, Mian Gul Auragzeb, martyrs of Palestine, Pak Army soldiers, father of Sufyan Yusuf, young pilot Haris Suleman, his father and those died while swimming in sea in Karachi on Eid Day.

An MQM woman legislator took oath of office.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings:

• The National Assembly met for four hours and 05 minutes.
• The House had a prayer break of 33 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1737 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours, witnessing a delay of an hour and 37 minutes.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for three hours and 14 minutes while the rest of the sitting was presided over by Deputy Speaker.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and 54 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, JI, APML, MQM, JUI-F, PML-Z, AMLP, QWP and BNP attended the sitting.
• Ninety-three lawmakers were present at the outset while 58 at the adjournment of the sitting. A maximum of 183 members were observed to be present at one point during the sitting.
• Five minority members attended the sitting.
• Six members applied for leave.

Output

• The National Assembly unanimously passed a resolution against Israeli aggression in Gaza.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Nine members of various parties spoke on an adjournment motion condemning Israeli aggression on the Palestinians. The JUI-F members spoke for 17 minutes, PML-N 14, PTI 11, JI 9 and PPPP seven minutes.
• There were 33 starred questions on the agenda of which 9 were answered by the relevant ministers. The lawmakers also raised eight supplementary questions.

Order and Institutionalization

• Lawmakers raised 27 points of order consuming 72 minutes of the proceedings.
• The lawmakers belonging to MQM walked out from the House against alleged Rangers personnel raid at the residence of Dr Farooq Sattar.
• The parliamentary leader of the AMLP boycotted the sitting as the Chair did not allow him to speak on the imposition of Article-245 in Islamabad..

Transparency

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

This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of FAFEN and can in no way be taken to 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 excepted