ISLAMABAD, March 09, 2015: The second sitting of the Senate’s 112th session passed two private bills and adopted five resolutions amid low attendance of lawmakers on Monday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet.

Starting 34 minutes behind the schedule, the sitting saw the presence of 17 senators (16%) at the start while 28 (27%) at the time of adjournment. The Leader of the House, the Opposition Leader and the parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PkMAP, ANP, PML-N, BNP-A, PML-F and NP attended the sitting.

The bills passed by the House included the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and the Privatization Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2015.

Introduced by JUI-F lawmaker, three bills were referred to the relevant committees for further deliberations which included two Constitution amendment Bills 2015 seeking amendment in paragraph (h) of Article 37; omission of clause (2) in Article (248) and the Education of the Holy Quran according to Recitation by Sighting and with Translation, Learning by Heart and with Correct Pronunciation Bill, 2015.

The House passed four resolutions regarding checking sea intrusion along the coastal areas of Balochistan and Sindh, establishing universities in each district of the country, allocating sufficient time for telecasting social service programs on official and private media channels and conducting 6^th Housing and Population Census in the country.

One supplementary resolution passed by the House in connection with International Women Day demanded equal rights for the women and recognizing their importance in the decision-making process.

The House witnessed presentation of ten periodic reports of the various Standing Committees and a report of Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs regarding Point of Order raised by Senator Sardar Ali Khan, on December 30, 2014.

Eight outgoing Senators spoke for 38 minutes to share their experiences as member of the upper house.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for an hour and 32 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1634 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting. The Deputy Chairman was also present.
• Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• Seventeen members (16%) were present at the start and 28 (27%) at the end of the sitting.
• A maximum of 51 senators (49%) were present at one point of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PkMAP, ANP, PML-N, BNP-A, PML-F and NP attended the sitting.
• Three minority members were present.
• Seven members applied for leave.

Output

• The House passed the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2015 moved by an MQM lawmaker and the Privatization Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2015 moved by a PPPP Senator.
•  Introduced by JUI-F lawmaker, three bills were referred to the relevant committees for further deliberations which included two Constitution amendment Bills 2015 seeking amendment in paragraph (h) of Article 37; omission of clause (2) in Article (248) and the Education of the Holy Quran according to Recitation by Sighting and with Translation, Learning by Heart and with Correct Pronunciation Bill, 2015.
• The House passed four resolutions regarding checking sea intrusion along the coastal areas of Balochistan and Sindh, establishing universities in each district of the country, allocating sufficient time for telecasting social service programs on official and private media channels and conducting 6^th Housing and Population Census in the country.
• One supplementary resolution passed by the House in connection with International Women Day demanded equal rights for the women and recognizing their importance in the decision making process.

Representation and Responsiveness 

• The House took two motions under Rule 218 and decided to have discussion on them later. The first motion was about the overall position of education standards in the country while the other was regarding performance of Federal Government Hospitals with particular reference to availability of facilities of various tests and provisions of free medicines to the outdoor patients.
• The House passed motion of Thanks to expresses its deep gratitude to the President of Pakistan for his address to both the Houses assembled together on June 2, 2014.
• Tabled by State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House passed a motion to suspend the question hour on March 10 and 11, 2015.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised eight points of order that consumed nine minutes of the sitting.
• FATA lawmakers staged a joint walkout along with opposition lawmakers for four minutes against presidential ordinance issued to change the voting process for four Senate seats of the country’s tribal region.
• The opposition staged another two-minute walkout against the police baton-charge on farmers in Punjab.

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This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of FAFEN and in no way reflect the views of the European Union. This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.