ISLAMABAD, May 18, 2015: The Upper House of Parliament adopted two resolutions and concluded debate on motions under Rule 218 amid low attendance of lawmakers on Monday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

The sitting started as per schedule with 22 (21%) senators present at the start and 37 (36%) at the time of adjournment. The first resolution adopted by the House was about lifting ban on new as well as extension in industrial or commercial gas connections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while the other condemned the barring of women from casting their votes in Lower Dir, PK-95, bye-elections held on May 7, 2015.

The House concluded the debate on motion under Rule 218 which was about the overall performance of banking sector in the country. Two lawmakers -one each of PPPP and ANP-spoke on it for five minutes while Minister for Commerce winded up the debate during his 14 minutes speech.

Another motion regarding provision of speedy and inexpensive justice in the country was debated for an hour and 51 minutes. Seventeen lawmakers- MQM and PML-N (4 each), PPP (3), PkMAP (2) and one each of JUI-F, ANP, PTI and NP- debated it for an hour and 28 minutes, while Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights concluded it during his 13 minutes speech.

The House discussed the situation arising out of the spread of hepatitis in the country following a motion under Rule 218.  Four lawmakers- one each from PPPP, JUI-F, MQM and NP- debated it for 18 minutes.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for three hours and 46 minutes.
• The sitting started at its scheduled time of 1530 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for three hours and 38 minutes.
• The Opposition Leader was not present.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• 22 senators (21%) were present at the start and 37 (36%) at the end of the sitting.
• A maximum of 52 senators (50%) were present at one point of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, PPPP, JUI-F, ANP, PML-N and PTI were present.
• Three minority members were present.
• Seven members applied for leave.

Output

• The House adopted two resolutions. The first resolution was about lifting ban on new as well as extension in industrial or commercial gas connections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while the other condemned the barring of women from casting their votes in Lower Dir, PK-95, bye-Election held on May 7, 2015.
• Two resolutions were deferred due to the absence of mover which were related to the arrangement for payment of pension to the pensioners near their residences and reinstating quota reserved earlier in Karachi Port Trust for appointment of children of its employees.
• Another resolution to fix same amount as pension to all the retired government servants irrespective of their date of retirement was debated by the mover (MQM lawmaker) for four minutes.  Minister for Commerce responded to it and spoke for three minutes following which the mover agreed to withdraw it for redrafting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House concluded the debate on motion under Rule 218 which was about overall performance of the banking sector in the country. Two lawmakers -one each of PPPP and ANP-spoke on it for five minutes while Minister for Commerce winded up the debate during his 14 minutes speech.
• Another motion regarding provision of speedy and inexpensive justice was debated in the House for an hour and 51 minutes. Seventeen lawmakers- MQM and PML-N (4 each), PPP (3), PkMAP (2) and one each of JUI-F, ANP, PTI and NP- debated it for an hour and 28 minutes while the Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights concluded the debate during his 13 minutes speech.
• The House discussed the situation arising out of the spread of hepatitis in the country following a motion under Rule 218.  Four lawmakers- one each from PPPP, JUI-F, MQM and NP- debated it for 18 minutes.
• Three motions under Rule 218 were admitted for discussion in the next sittings which were about natural gas load shedding, low water level in Balochistan and involvement of FC in the affairs of the Provincial Government.
• Two motions under Rule 218 remained unaddressed during the sitting which were about kidnapping of new born babies from different federal government hospitals and overall position of gas reservoirs in the country.
• The House passed a motion to constitute Devolution Sub-Committee of Senate.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised four points of order that consumed 31 minutes of the sitting.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and others.

• Information on members’ attendance was not available to the observers and the public.  

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This publication has been produced by FAFEN and it is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.