ISLAMABAD, August 06, 2014: Federal Minister for Science and Technology introduced two bills in the National Assembly on Wednesday, including The Foreign Exchange Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2014 and The Equity Participation Fund (Repeal) Bill, 2014, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

The House also approved a motion moved by a PPPP lawmaker regarding formation of a special committee for the protection of minorities in Sindh. Another motion, moved by Federal Minister for Science and Technology, was also approved by the House regarding initiation of debate on the sad incident wherein several people lost their lives while swimming in sea in Karachi on Eid Day. Two lawmakers participated in the debate that took 11 minutes of the PTI and two minutes of the PML-N members.

Chairman Special Committee on Parliament Lodges presented a report on the Parliament Lodges.

The House took up two calling attention notices, as well. A PTI lawmaker pointed out lack of quorum and the Chair adjourned the sitting for Thursday morning.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings:

• The National Assembly met for two hours and 49 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1050 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours, witnessing a delay of 20 minutes.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for 34 minutes while the rest of proceedings were chaired by Deputy Speaker.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and 12 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, QWP and APML attended the sitting.
• Forty-four lawmakers were present at the outset while 41 at the adjournment of the sitting. A maximum of 168 members were observed to be present at one point during the sitting.
• Five minority members attended the sitting.
• Ten members applied for leave.

Output

• Federal Minister for Science and Technology tabled two bills comprising The Foreign Exchange Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2014 and The Equity Participation Fund (Repeal) Bill, 2014.
• The National Assembly approved a motion moved by PPPP lawmaker that a special House committee should be formed to protect the minorities in Sindh.
• The House also approved a motion moved by Federal Minister for Science and Technology regarding the initiation of debate on the sad incident in which several people were drowned in Karachi on Eid Day.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Two lawmakers debated a motion that took 11 minutes of the PTI and two minutes of PML-N.
• A PTI lawmaker pointed out lack of quorum and the Chair adjourned the sitting for Thursday morning.

Order and Institutionalization

• Lawmakers raised 16 points of order consuming 44 minutes of the proceedings.
• The House took up two calling attention notices.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on members’ attendance was not available to observers and the public.

This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of FAFEN and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI); a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions excepted