ISLAMABAD, June 21, 2013: The eighth sitting of the National Assembly’s second session witnessed two walkouts and a boycott as the members continued the general discussion on budget on Friday.

MQM legislators first staged a four-minute walkout over the killings of party workers in Karachi and then boycotted the sitting over the same issue. The parties on the opposition benches walked out of the house for two minutes over the imposition of increased GST.

As many as six members – two PPPP, one each of PMLN, MQM, PMLF and an independent member – discussed the budget for an hour and 23 minutes.

Two calling attention notices appearing on the agenda were taken up. One was regarding import of substandard petrol while the other was about not allocating quota for the locals of Khanpur in services from BS-1 to BS-4 in Pakistan Management Organization Factory in district Haripur.

The Speaker chaired the entire sitting. The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for two hours and seven minutes.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for four hours and 46 minutes. The House took a break of an hour and 39 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1045 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1030 hours, witnessing the delay of 15 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting. The Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for two hours and seven minutes.
• The Minister for Finance attended the sitting for 21 minutes.
• A total of 94 members were present at the outset while 141 were there at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 186 members were present at one point of sitting.
• Eight minority members attended the sitting.
• Seven members applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as six members – two PPPP, one each of PMLN, MQM, PMLF and an independent member – discussed the budget for an hour and 23 minutes.
• Two calling attention notices appearing on the agenda were taken up. One was regarding import of substandard petrol while the other was about non-allocation of quota for the locals of Khanpur in services from BS-1 to BS-4 in Pakistan Management Organization Factory in district Haripur.

Order and Institutionalization

• Forty-two points of order consumed two hours and seven minutes of the sitting time.
• MQM first staged a four-minute token walkout over killing of its workers in Karachi and not taking up of its calling attention notice they submitted in this regard. They then boycotted the sitting at 1515 hours over the same issue.
• The opposition jointly staged a two-minute token walkout criticizing the government over imposition of increased GST.

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