ISLAMABAD, February 19, 2018: The Senate passed five bills and adopted three resolutions sponsored by the Private Members on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during sixth sitting of 273^rd session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for three hours and 56 minutes.
• The proceedings remained suspended for 16 minutes due to prayer break
• The sitting started at its scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for an hour and 28 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for two hours and 44 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of MQM, JI, PkMAP, BNP-M and ANP attended the sitting.
• As many as 11 lawmakers (10% of the total membership- 104) were present at the outset and 13 (12%) at the end of sitting.
• As many as two minority Senators attended the sitting.

Output

• Chairperson, Functional Committee on Human Rights presented the report of the Committee on the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2017.
• The House dropped four Private Members’ bills due to absence of the concerned lawmakers.
• A lawmaker belonging to ANP introduced the Members of Parliament (Salaries and Allowances) (Amendment) Bill, 2018. The House referred the bill to the relevant standing committee for further deliberation.
• The House passed the National Assembly Secretariat Employees Bill, 2018, the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Amendment) Bill, 2018, the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
• The House was informed that the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill, 2017 had been received back from the standing committees and were awaiting notices for consideration.
• The House unanimously passed a resolution recommending the government to stop the process of delimitations of constituencies in FATA and hold the elections, 2018 on the previously delimitated constituencies. As many as twelve lawmakers including the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs debated the resolution consuming half an hour of the proceedings.
• The House adopted a resolution recommending the government to launch Chinese language courses for Pakistanis in view of the growing collaboration between Pakistan and China under the CPEC. As many as 14 lawmakers voted in favour of the resolution and nine against it.
• The House also adopted a resolution recommending the government to take necessary steps to set up separate branches of the National Bank of Pakistan in Tehsils Dadak and Kangri of District Musakhel, Balochistan.
• As many as one private member’s resolution was deferred while another was dropped due to absence of the concerned lawmakers.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House debated a Motion under Rule 218 regarding the Government’s policy of banning the issuance of licenses for automatic weapons. As many as eight lawmakers debated the motion for half an hour. The Minister of State for Interior will conclude the discussion in the next sitting.
• The House also held a discussion on a Motion under Rule 218 regarding increase in cases of child abductions, rapes and murders in the country. As many as 12 lawmakers including the Minister of State for Interior took part in the discussion that continued for an hour.
• As many as two Motions under Rule 218 were deferred and one was disposed of due to absence of the concerned lawmakers.
• The Minister for Defence made a statement before the House regarding sending Pakistan Army troops to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Order and Institutionalization 

• The lawmakers did not raise any point 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