ISLAMABAD, January 8, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Punjab passed two private members’ resolutions on Tuesday in the absence of the Speaker, Deputy Speaker and the Leaders of the House and the Opposition, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during second sitting of the sixth session:

Members’ Participation

• The Assembly met for two hours and 18 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1220 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
• The Panel of Chairperson presided over the entire sitting in the absence of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
• The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 37 MPAs (9%) were present at the outset and 50 (13%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader Rah-e-Haq Party attended the proceedings.
• As many as five out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

 Output

• The House adopted two resolutions condemning the Indian atrocities in the Indian Held Kashmir and urging the provincial government to ensure the availability of gunny bags to the wheat growers. Former resolution was moved by PML lawmaker and later by and PML-N lawmaker.
• The House deferred two resolutions, moved by PML and PML-N lawmakers, on the request by the concerned ministers while a PML-N lawmaker’s resolution was deferred due to absence of the mover.
• Moved by the Minister for Law, the House granted extension to the Special Committee constituted during the last session to propose amendments to Rules of Procedure of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab 1997 regarding issuance of production orders for detained/arrested lawmakers.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• The Law Minister responded to three Adjournment Motions initiated by PMLN and PTI lawmakers to discuss the anti-encroachment operation in Sahiwal, an incident of harassment in Rawalpindi and death of a child due to the negligence of doctors.
• The House deferred two Adjournment Motions moved by PMLN and PTI lawmakers regarding expired medicine worth one billion rupees found in Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology and reservation of five percent quota for minority students in educational institutes.
• The House took up two Starred Questions addressed to the Home Department. The lawmakers asked five supplementary questions as well.

 Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised eighteen Points of Order consuming 18 minutes of the proceedings.
• The House admitted a Zero Hour notice, moved by PML-N lawmaker, for discussion on the master plan of Lahore and the commercialization policy of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA). Moreover, the Minister for Law responded to another Zero Hour notice regarding implementation on the regulations for heavy traffic.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Wednesday, January 9, 2019 at 1100 hours.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on Punjab Assembly’s website.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on Punjab Assembly’s website.

The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted.