ISLAMABAD, March 6, 2018: The Senate on Tuesday took up the entire agenda appearing on Orders of the Day while five outgoing Senators made farewell speeches, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the second sitting of 274^th session:

 Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for two hours and 44 minutes while the proceedings remained suspended for 28 minutes for photo session of outgoing Senators along with sitting Senators.
• The sitting started at 1515 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman and the Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for an hour and 20 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 18 (17%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 13 (12%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of MQM, PPPP, PML-N, ANP and BNP-M attended the sitting.
• One minority lawmaker was present.

Output 

• Moved by State Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination, the House passed the National Skills University Islamabad Bill, 2017.
• Under Rule 193, a member of the Standing Committee on Finance presented special reports regarding separation of cadres of Accounts and Audit in order to avoid conflict of interest and legislation in respect of the Federal Consolidated Fund and Public Account.
• He also presented reports of the Committee on two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) regarding issuance of SRO No. 47(I)/2018 on January 23, 2018 to exempt one particular company from payment of Sales Tax as well as Federal Excise Duty and promotion policy 2016-17 of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP).

Representation and Responsiveness

• Five outgoing Senators made farewell speeches for an hour and 11 minutes.
• The House passed five motions under Rule 194 (1) to grant extension to Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat for presentation of its reports on five legislative proposals.
• The House took up two CANS regarding disparity in pay scales of Junior and Senior Clerks working in the Federal and Provincial Governments and recent report of UNICEF declaring Pakistan as a country having highest new born mortality rate ..
• As many as four lawmakers spoke on Points of Public Importance consuming 16 minutes of the proceedings.

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