ISLAMABAD, May 14, 2018:  The Senate on Monday took up the most of its agenda appearing on the Orders of the Day and discussed political situation in the country, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the 11^th sitting of 277^th session:

 Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for three hours and 56 minutes.
• The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Deputy Chairman presided over the entire sitting in the absence of Chairman Senate.
• Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for three hours and ten minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 14 (13%) lawmakers were present at the outset and seven (6%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PTI, BNP-M, PPPP, PkMAP, JUI-F and NP attended the sitting.
• Two minority lawmakers were present.

Output 

• Tabled by PTI lawmaker, the House passed the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
• The House witnessed introduction of five Private Members’ bills which were referred to the relevant committees for further consideration. Two out of these five bills have been originated from Senate including the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2018 and the Islamabad Pure Food Authority Bill, 2018 while three remaining bills were transmitted from National Assembly which were the Compulsory Blood Test of the Relatives of Thalassemia Patient Bill, 2017; the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (Substitution of section 489 F of PPC and schedule II of Cr. PC) and the Pakistan Courier and Logistics Regulatory Authority Bill, 2018.
•  The House adopted a resolution urging the government to complete all the rehabilitation work and projects at earliest announced for quake hit areas.
• Three resolutions on the agenda were dropped due to absence of movers while one was deferred on mover’s request.
• The Chair informed the House that the National Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2017 had been received from the Standing Committee and was awaiting the notice under Rule 100 for its consideration.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Jointly sponsored by PkMAP lawmakers, the House discussed a motion under Rule 218 which was regarding current political situation in the country. Twenty-three lawmakers participated in debate and spoke for three hours and six minutes on it.
• Sponsored by a JUI-F lawmaker, the House debated a motion about low gas pressure in winter season in various areas of Pakistan. Two lawmakers spoke on it for eight minutes.
• Two motions under Rule 18 were dropped  while one was deferred on ministerial request.
• Minister for Defense gave a statement for three minutes regarding stance of Pakistan with the United Nations to list the leader of Jamaat ul Harar.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers is available on the website.