ISLAMABAD, February 13, 2017: The Senate adopted seven resolutions and witnessed introduction of five Private Members’ bills in the absence of Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition on Monday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during first sitting of Senate’s 259^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for four hours and 38 minutes.
• The sitting started three minutes behind the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The House took a prayer break of 17 minutes.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was also present while the Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition was not present.
•  Parliamentary leaders of ANP, MQM, PPPP, PkMAP, PTI, PML-N, PML-F and JUI-F attended the sitting.
• Thirty-four (33% of the total membership – 104) lawmakers were present at the start and 18 (17%) at the end of sitting.
• One minority legislator attended the proceedings.

 Output

• The House witnessed the introduction of five bills, including the Islamabad Capital Territory Senior Citizens Board Bill, 2017; the  Control of Narcotic Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2017; the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2017; the Islamabad Rent Restriction (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Amendment of Fourth Schedule).
• The House passed the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (Amendment) Bill, 2016 after consideration under Rule 100.
• Another bill – the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (Amendment of Article 28) – was rejected as 31 votes were polled in favor against the required two third majority to pass any Constitutional amendment.
• The members were informed that nine bills – the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2015 (Omission of Article 182); the Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill,  2016; the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the  Islamabad  Prohibition of Sheesha Smoking  Bill, 2016; the Civil Courts  (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Juvenile Justice System (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Islamabad Prohibition of Expressing Matters on Walls Bill, 2016; the National  Commission for International Law and Commitments Bill, 2016 and the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (Amendment of Article 209) – have been received from the standing committees and they can make a motion under Rule 100 for further consideration of these bills.
• The House adopted four resolutions to appoint a foreign minister on priority basis, achieve targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), establish separate counters for women in all regional passport offices and operate PIA flights between Peshawar and Lahore and change the present timings of PIA flights from Karachi to Peshawar.
• A resolution about plantation on Margalla hills was deferred on the request of the mover.
• The House adopted three supplementary resolutions. Two were about expressing profound grief over the demise of Bano Qudsia and Hameeda Khuhro while another resolution sought to enhance role and powers of the Senate to protect the rights of the federating units and ensure their meaningful participation in the affairs of the federation.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House discussed four Motions under Rule 218 on the subjects related to performance of cellular companies; present status of implementation of the National Action Plan; launching vocational training skill programs for street children and procedure of the government to obtain foreign loans.
• A motion regarding overall performance of Higher Education Commission was deferred on the request of the mover.

·         The House passed two separate motions under Rule 126 (7) to consider the Un-attended Orphans (Rehabilitation and Welfare) Bill, 2016 and the Torture, Custodial Death and Custodial Rape (Prevention and Punishment) Bill, 2015 in the joint sitting. Both the bills have been passed by the Senate and were transmitted to the National Assembly for its passage within ninety days.

 Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers discussed five Points of Public Importance consuming 11 minutes of the proceedings.

 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 proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted