ISLAMABAD, February 4, 2015: The fourth sitting of the Senate’s 110th session was adjourned due to lack of quorum amid walkouts by the treasury and opposition lawmakers.

The House adopted a resolution tabled by a PML-N senator to express solidarity with the Kashmiri people and pay tribute to their sacrifices.

Over half of the agenda (including two bills, an ordinance, a report, discussion on a motion of thanks and a motion under Rule 196) was left unaddressed during the sitting, which started 45 minutes behind the schedule and lasted 85 minutes.

Only six out of 104 members were present at the start of the sitting and four at the time of adjournment.  A maximum of 22 senators were present at one point of the sitting.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for an hour and 25 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1445 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
• The Deputy Chairman presided over the entire sitting as the Chairman was absent.
• Only six members were present at the start and four at the end of the sitting.
• A maximum of 22 senators were present at one point of the sitting.
• The Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader were not present.
• Among parliamentary leaders, only the MQM leader was present.
• None of the minority members attended the sitting.

Output

• The House adopted resolution tabled by a PML-N senator to express solidarity with the Kashmiri people and pay tribute to their sacrifices.
• The Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training presented its report for June 2012 to October 2014.
• The Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat also presented a report on a starred question raised by a senator on January 29, 2013.
• The Companies (Amendment) Bill 2015, the Stock Exchanges (Corporatization, Demutualization and Integration) (Amendment) Bill 2015 and the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess Ordinance 2014 were not introduced despite being on the agenda.
• The first biannual monitoring report on the implementation of the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award for July-December 2013 was not presented during the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up all the eight starred questions while a supplementary question was also raised during the sitting.
• The discussion on a motion of thanks regarding the President’s address to both the House of the Parliament on June 2, 2014 was left unaddressed.
• The House did not discuss the recent petrol crisis or consider a joint committee’s report on the issue.

Order and Institutionalization

• Six points of order consumed 15 minutes of the proceeding’s time.
• The entire opposition (except MQM members) led by ANP lawmakers staged a walkout at 1603 hours over the absence of the Finance Minister.
• MQM lawmakers staged another walkout at 1605 hours to protest the law and order situation in Karachi and non-implementation on the National Action Plan.
• Additionally, a PkMAP lawmaker staged a walkout at 1606 hours over the proposed diversion of the Pak-China Economic Corridor’s original route and did not return to the House.
• Following the walkouts, a PPPP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1608 hours, after which the Deputy Chairman ordered for the count but the quorum was found to be incomplete. As a result, the sitting was adjourned at 1855 hours to meet again on Friday.

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This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of FAFEN and in no way reflect the views of the European Union. This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted