ISLAMABAD, April 9, 2018: The Senate on Monday adopted four resolutions and referred a private member’s bill to the relevant committee for review, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the first sitting of 276^th session:

 Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for four hours and 38 minutes while the proceedings remained suspended for 16 minutes for prayer break.
• The sitting started at 1510 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman and the Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for three hours and 23 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for four hours and 14 minutes.
• As many as 37 (36%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 33 (32%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of JI, PML-N, BNP-M, PML-F, NP, PTI and PPPP attended the sitting.
• Two minority lawmakers were present.

Output 

• Moved by the Leader of the Opposition, the House unanimously adopted a supplementary resolution condemning the state-sponsored violence in Indian-occupied Kashmir. The House demanded the government to appoint a special envoy to raise the Kashmir issue at international forums.
• A PTI lawmaker introduced the Right to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2018 which was referred to the relevant committee.
• The House deferred the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018 as the Minister for Law and Justice claimed that the proposed amendment moved by PPPP lawmaker was already part of the law.
• The House adopted three other resolutions recommending the government to allocate funds in the PSDP for opening of new Passport Offices in the provinces, reduce prices of life saving drugs and implement Aaghaz-e-Haqooq-eBalochistan Package in letter and spirit.
• The House rejected a PTI lawmaker’s resolution regarding provision of development funds to parliamentarians.
• The House dropped two private members’ resolutions due to absence of the movers.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• The House referred a motion under Rule 218 regarding poor cellular phone services in Balochistan to the relevant committee.
• The Hose held a discussion on a motion about taxes levied on petroleum products. As many as eleven lawmakers participated in the discussion consuming 43 minutes. The Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Revenue concluded the discussion and spoke for three minutes
• As many as eight lawmakers debated a motion about health care system in the country for 22 minutes. The State Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination winded up the debate and spoke for four minutes
• As many as seven lawmakers spoke on a motion about devaluation of Pakistani rupee for 28 minutes. State Minister for Finance concluded the debate and spoke for 12 minutes speech.
• The House deferred a motion about Government’s efforts to address the energy crisis.

Order and Institutionalization

• The Opposition lawmakers walked out of the House for five minutes against promulgation of Ordinances by the President when the sessions of both houses were about to convene.
• Lawmakers spoke on ten points of order for 33 minutes regarding promulgation of Ordinance by the President to ratify tax amnesty scheme. State Minister for Finance responded to these points of order.

 Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers is available on the website.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceeding conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted