The 36th session of the National Assembly was marked by unfinished agenda, low attendance of Members, lack of Quorum and Points of Order interrupting the regular proceedings. The session lasted 24 hours and 28 minutes spanning 10 sittings from November 14 to 25, meeting on an average for two hours and 26 minutes per sitting. Each sitting was delayed, on an average by 31 minutes.

The House could take up only 37% of the agenda items that appeared on the Orders of the Day. This was primarily due to 203 Points of Order, which consumed 45% of the total session time – 666 of the total 1,468 minutes. Like previous sessions, the agenda for Private Members’ Day was ambitiously set, making it difficult for the House to complete it in a single sitting.

A total of 49 Points of Order were raised by PMLN Members, 20 by PML and another 13 by MQM. The ANP Members raised nine, MMAP five, PPPS four and the Independent Members seven.

The PPPP Members took the floor 96 times on Points of Order, mostly to respond to opposition’s criticism. None of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling. Without the Chair’s formal ruling, these Points of Order do not lead to any output.

Overall 52% of the Members – 176 male and 47 female — attended the session and submitted agenda items on the Orders of the Day or took part in the debates. Male parliamentarians appeared to be less active than their female counterparts. Their participation remained 49% of their total Membership of 263 while female participation was 61% of their Membership of 77.

A party-wise analysis shows that 88% of MQM parliamentarians took part in the proceedings, followed by PMLN’s 58%, MMAP’s 50%, PPPP’s 48%, ANP’s 46%, PML’s 43% and 20% of the PMLF.

The attendance of Members remained low. Since the National Assembly Secretariat does not make the attendance record public, FAFEN conducts a headcount of Members at the beginning and end of each sitting and documents the actual time spent on the floor of the House by Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. During the session, on an average, 42 Members were present at the start of each sitting and 63 at the end.

The Prime Minister attended seven sittings for a total of 338 minutes (23% of the session time) while the Leader of the Opposition was present in five sittings for 253 minutes (17%) of the session time. The Speaker chaired the proceedings for 22% of the session time; the Deputy Speaker 30%; and the remaining 48% of the time was presided over by the Members of the Panel of Chairpersons. The Parliamentary Leaders of ANP, PMLF and MMAP did not attend any of the sittings, while PPPS leaders attended seven; BNPA and NPP three each and MQM and PML leaders attended one each.

Although the Quorum was visibly lacking at various stages of the session, it was not pointed out by any Legislator.

The National Assembly passed seven Government Bills and one Private Members’ Bill. The House took up 10 Calling Attention Notices raised by 11 male and 11 female Members. Five were sponsored by PPPP Members, four by PMLN Members while one was jointly tabled by PPPP and PMLN Members.

A total of 54 out of 183 starred Questions were taken up, at an average of 5.4 Questions per sitting. The Members asked 150 supplementary Questions.

The Members debated the Motions under Rule 259 on shortage of urea fertilizer and reducing funds for Pakistan Baitul- Mal for 34 minutes. Also debated was the Matter of Public Importance about human rights for 26 minutes. However, the House did not address the Adjournment Motion on the deteriorating condition of Pakistan Railways.

The House witnessed four walkouts and one boycott. The PMLN Members walked out of the House to protest shortage of urea fertilizer on three occasions, and boycotted the entire 10th sitting over the memogate scandal. During the third sitting, they also protested the lapse in Speaker’s security. The MQM Members walked out once in protest over Sindh Information Minister accompanying the former provincial Interior Minister to London.

FAFEN hopes this report will be a valuable contribution to creating a more informed citizenry and an increasingly responsible Parliament.

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