ISLAMABAD, July 27, 2012: Starting 30 minutes behind schedule, the first sitting of Senate’s 84th session witnessed low attendance of Senators. Only 12 Senators were present at the outset of the sitting while 37 were there when it was adjourned.
A Senator from Sindh – belonging to the PPPP – took oath during the sitting. The PMLN and NP Senators staged a ten-minute walkout, saying the session has been called only to facilitate the oath taking of the newly elected Senator from Sindh.
Thirteen Points of Order consumed 45 minutes of the sitting time. None of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
The third quarterly report for the year 2011-2012 of the Central Board of Directors of State Bank of Pakistan on the state of Pakistan’s Economy was presented in the House.
Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Senate met for an hour and 13 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1100 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1030 hours. The House proceedings started late by 30 minutes.
- The Chairman chaired the sitting. The Deputy Chairman was also present.
- The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was there for an hour.
- The parliamentary leaders of the PMLF, NP, JUIF and ANP attended the sitting.
- Twelve Senators (12% of total Membership) were present at the start, while 37 (37%) were present when the sitting was adjourned.
- Six Senators applied for leave.
Representation and Responsiveness
- A Senator from Sindh took oath during the sitting.
Output
- The third quarterly report for the year 2011-2012 of the Central Board of Directors of State Bank of Pakistan on the state of Pakistan’s Economy was presented to the House.
Order and Institutionalization
- Thirteen Points of Order consumed 45 minutes of the sitting time. None of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
- The PMLN and NP Senators staged a ten-minute walkout against the oath taking ceremony of the Senator from Sindh.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day were available to legislators, observers and others.
- Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a member organization of FAFEN
