ISLAMABAD, September 14, 2017: The Punjab Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution on Thursday to pay tribute to late Dr. Ruth Pfau for her messianic services for the leprosy patients in Pakistan, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during fourth sitting of 31^st session:

Members’ Participation

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 37 minutes of which the proceedings remained suspended for 36 minutes due to lack of quorum.
• The sitting started at 1112 hours against the scheduled time 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for an hour and 19 minutes.
• As many as five MPAs (1%) were present at outset and 38 (10%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of JI and PML-Z attended the sitting.
• Two minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• The House granted two-month extension to the Standing Committees on Live Stock & Dairy Development and one-month extension to the Standing Committee on Local Government & Community Development for presentation of their reports.
• The House unanimously adopted a supplementary joint resolution paying tribute to the messianic services of late Dr. Ruth Pfau for leprosy patients in Pakistan.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as eight out of 17 Starred Questions were taken up for answers during the proceedings. Moreover, three questions were disposed of due to absence of the movers and six were deferred for a later sitting. The lawmakers also asked 25 supplementary questions.

• The House deferred four Adjournment Motions due to delay in replies from the government.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmaker spoke on 15 Points of Order consuming 21 minutes of the proceedings.
• The opposition lawmakers protested for two minutes against the passage of a government resolution regarding the former Prime Minister during last sitting of the House.
• A PTI lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1307 hours that led to suspension of the proceedings for 36 minutes. The quorum was found incomplete again on the resumption of the proceedings and subsequently, the sitting was adjourned.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• 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.