• Opposition stages walkout against dropping FATA reforms agenda from Cabinet meeting

ISLAMABAD, February 14, 2017: The Senate witnessed introduction of four bills and transacted most of its agenda on the Orders of the Day on Tuesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

The Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister were not present.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during second sitting of Senate’s 259^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for two hours and 34 minutes.
• The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Deputy Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire proceedings.
• The Leader of the Opposition and Prime Minister were not present.
• Parliamentary leaders of PTI, MQM, BNP-M, PkMAP, ANP, PML-F, PPPP, JUI-F, JI and PML-N attended the sitting.
• Fourteen (13% of the total membership – 104) lawmakers were present the start and 24 (23%) at the end of sitting.
• One minority legislator attended the proceedings.

 Output

• The House witnessed introduction of four bills, including the Limited Liability Partnership Bill, 2017; the Pakistan Climate Change Bill, 2017; the Explosive Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the Costs of Litigation Bill, 2017. All the bills were referred to relevant committees for further deliberations.
• A legislative proposal – the Alternate Dispute Resolution Bill, 2017 – was deferred for consideration in any of the next sitting.
• The copy of Money Bill, the Rulers of Acceding States (Abolition of Privy Purses and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was presented to make any recommendations to the National Assembly.
• Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination presented Annual Report of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) for Financial Year 2015-2016.
• Chairman, Standing Committee on National Health Services presented report on the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Commerce presented report on the budgetary allocation and its utilization by the Ministry of Commerce for the Financial Year 2016-17.
• Chairman Functional Committee on Devolution presented report regarding placement of regulatory authorities under the line ministries.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House passed six motions under Rule 194 (1) to extend the presentation period of as many reports.
• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices (CANs). The first CAN was about the problems being faced by the consumers across Hazara Division due to the closing down of 120 CNG stations while the other notice was about illegal sale of unhygienic milk mixed with chemicals in Islamabad.
• Ten out of 28 Starred Questions appearing on the agenda were taken up during the sitting. In addition, lawmakers asked 30 Supplementary Questions.
• The Chair rejected three adjournment motions on the agenda for being in contravention with the rules.

 Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers discussed five Points of Public Importance consuming 12 minutes of the proceedings.
• The opposition lawmakers walked out of the House for three minutes against dropping FATA reforms from the agenda of last Cabinet meeting.

 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 proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted