The 38th session of the National Assembly saw the adoption of a Resolution supporting democracy and passing of a bill to set up a commission for women rights. The session lasted 11 hours and eight minutes comprising six sittings from January 12 to 19, meeting on average an hour and 51 minutes per sitting. Each sitting started late, an average delay of 57 minutes.

The House left 44% of the agenda items unaddressed that appeared on the Orders of the Day, primarily due to 110 Points of Order which consumed 43% of the total session time – 288 of the 668 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.

Overall 36% of the Members – 87 male and 35 female – participated in the session by submitting agenda items on the Orders of the Day or by taking part in debates. Male parliamentarians appeared to be less active than their female counterparts. Their participation remained 34% of their total membership of 258 while female participation was 46% of their total membership of 76.

A party-wise analysis shows that 96% of the MQM parliamentarians took part in the proceedings, They were followed by MMAP (50%), PMLN’ (48%), PPPP (25%) and ANP (25%).

Although the participation of Members was low, still the attendance was relatively better than the previous sessions. On average 133 Members were present at the beginning of each sitting and 152 at the end.

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 the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.

The Prime Minister attended five sittings for 47% (317 minutes) while the Leader of the Opposition was present during four sittings for 35% (236 minutes) of the session time. The Speaker chaired the proceedings for 77% of the session time; the Deputy Speaker 12% and the remaining 11% of the time was presided over by Members of Panel of Chairpersons.

The Parliamentary Leaders of ANP, NPP and PPPS attended four sittings each, BNPA and MQM three each, PML two, and MMAP and PMLF leaders attended one sitting 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 the National Commission for Women Bill, 2011 and the Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University Bill 2011. Twelve Private Members’ Bills were introduced and sent to the respective Standing Committees. The House took up five Calling Attention Notices raised by nine male and as many female Members. Four were sponsored by the PMLN while one was tabled by the PPPP Members.

During the third sitting the National Assembly adopted a Resolution on the supremacy of democracy. A total of six Members including the PM, the Leader of the Opposition, the parliamentary leaders of ANP and PPPS, and a Member of PMLN and MMAP, spoke on the Resolution for 80 minutes.

The House witnessed two walkouts. The PMLN and PPPS Members walked out in protest over their recommendations not being included in the Resolution supporting democracy. The other walkout was by a PMLN Legislator who protested the security arrangements in place for the Prime Minister’s appearance before the Supreme Court. He said these caused difficulties for the general public.

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

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