ISLAMABAD, February 11, 2020: The Senate passed two government bills and discussed the report regarding problems of less developed districts in South Punjab,  observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Tuesday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 21st sitting of the 295th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 28 minutes.
• The sitting started at its scheduled time of 1530 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for an hours and 15 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition was absent.
• Fourteen lawmakers (13%) were present at the outset and 23 (22%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PTI, PML-N, BNP-M, PkMAP, and PPPP attended the sitting.
• Three out of four minority lawmakers were present.

Output.

• The House passed two motions under Rule 194 (1) granting extension of 60 days to Standing Committees on Cabinet Secretariat and Law and Justice for presentation of their reports on legislative proposals referred to them.
• Tabled by Minister for Economic Affairs Division, the House passed the Foreign Exchange Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs presented reports of the Committee on the Foreign Exchange Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
• The House discussed the report of Functional Committee on Problems of Less Developed Areas about its meetings and visits to the Districts Rajanpur, Muzaffar Garh, Layyah, Lodhran and Lahore from February 12 to February 15, 2019. Fourteen lawmakers discussed the report and problems in these areas for an hour and five minutes.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Commerce presented reports of the Committee on the Geographical Indications (Registration and Protection) Bill, 2019 and budgetary allocation as well as its utilization by the Ministry.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up five out of 21 starred questions while lawmakers asked 14 supplementary questions as well.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting briefed the House about efforts of the Committee to ensure payments of salaries to media workers.
• The Annual Report of the Board of Directors of the State Bank of Pakistan on the state of the Economy was not discussed.

Order and Institutionalization

• Five lawmakers spoke on points of order for as many minutes.
• The opposition staged a token walkout from the proceedings against the absence of relevant ministers during the question hour. A PPPP lawmaker pointed out the quorum soon after this walkout at 1557 hours but the entire opposition returned to the House and did not demand the Chair for counting.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on February 14, 2020 (Friday) at 1430 hours.

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