ISLAMABAD, March 13, 2013: The National Assembly passed the Anti-terrorism (Second Amendment) Bill 2013 unanimously and the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (PIMS) Islamabad (Amendment) Bill 2013 with the majority vote in the 18^th sitting of the ongoing 50^th session on Wednesday. The latter was tabled as supplementary agenda.

The Futures Trading Bill 2013 was also introduced.

The Standing Committee on Public Accounts and the Special Committees on Foreign and Domestic Loans, and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) presented their reports before the House.

The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting whereas the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 41 minutes. The parliamentary leaders of MMAP, ANP, PML, PMLF, and PPPS remained absent.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for two hours and 45 minutes. There was a prayer break of 17 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1731 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1700 hours, witnessing a delay of 31 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the entire proceedings but for eight minutes, which were presided over by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting whereas the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 41 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of MQM, NPP and BNPA were present whereas those of MMAP, ANP, PML, PMLF, and PPPS were absent.
• The chief whips of PPPP, PMLN, ANP, and PML attended the sitting whereas those of MQM, MMAP, and PMLF were not present.
• Seventy-five members were present at the outset while 92 were there at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 164 members were present at one point of sitting.
• Six minority members attended the sitting.
• Four members applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Seven of the 16 starred questions on the agenda were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministries. Additionally, 11 supplementary questions were asked.
• Two calling attention notices and a motion under rule 259 on the agenda remained unaddressed.

Output

• The House unanimously passed the Anti-terrorism (Second Amendment) Bill 2013.
• The Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (PIMS), Islamabad (Amendment) Bill 2013, tabled as supplementary agenda, was passed by the House.
• The Futures Trading Bill 2013 was introduced.
• The Public Accounts Committee presented its reports on the Accounts of the Federal Government of Pakistan for the year 2004-05; and on the Review of Implementation Status of PAC Directives on Audit Reports for the years 1996-97, 1999-2000, 2000-01, 2005-06 and 2008-09.
• The Special Committee on Foreign and Domestic Loans presented its report on Foreign and Domestic Loans to examine and scrutinize the necessity and utilization of foreign and domestic loans since 1985.
• The Special Committee on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) presented its report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Order and Institutionalization

• Nine points of order consumed 10 minutes of the sitting time.

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.

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