ISLAMABAD, June 24, 2013: The National Assembly concluded debate on cut motions in the 11th sitting of the second session on Monday. Starting 25 minutes late, the sitting lasted five hours and 25 minutes.

As many as 101 Cut Motions were raised against the 11 Demands for Grants for the Ministry of Interior, while 70 Cut Motions were raised against the four Demands for Grants for the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources. Rejecting all the Cut Motions, the House approved all the Demands for Grants.

Two Calling Attention Notices appearing on the agenda were taken up. One was regarding stripping three Christian women and parading them on a trivial matter in a village of district Kasur, while the other was about non-payment to IPPs resulting in non-increase in the production of 1700 MW electricity.

The Speaker chaired the sitting for two hours and 10 minutes while the rest of the proceedings were presided over by the Deputy Speaker. Attending the meeting for 70 meetings, the Prime Minister spoke for 20 minutes in the House. The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for two hours and 34 minutes.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for five hours and 25 minutes. The House took a break of 61 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1055 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1030 hours, witnessing the delay of 25 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for two hours and 10 minutes. The rest of the proceedings were presided over by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Prime Minister attended the sitting for 70 minutes while the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for two hours and 34 minutes.
• The Minister for Finance attended the proceedings for 85 minutes.
• As many as 93 members were present at the outset while 124 were there at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 210 members were there at one point of sitting.
• Seven minority members attended the sitting.

• Eight members applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Prime Minister delivered his speech for 20 minutes.
• Two Calling Attention Notices appearing on the agenda were taken up. One was regarding stripping three Christian women and parading them on a trivial matter in a village of District Kasur, while the other was about non-payment to IPPs resulting in non-increase in the production of 1700 MW electricity.

• As many as 101 Cut Motions were raised against the 11 Demands for Grants for the Ministry of Interior. Six members spoke on the subject for 43 minutes. On behalf the Interior Minster, the Minister of Science and Technology concluded the debate consuming 12 minutes.
• Seventy Cut Motions were raised against the four Demands for Grants for the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources. A total of eight members shared their views about the subject for 33 minutes. The respective minister concluded the debate and spoke for eight minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• Twenty-six Points of Order consumed 73 minutes of the sitting time.
• No instance of protest, walkout or boycott observed during the sitting.

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.

The 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