ISLAMABAD, August 24, 2020: The Senate adopted three resolutions and passed as many private members’ bills on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the sixth sitting of 302^nd session:

  Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for an hour and 55 minutes.
• The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1700 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire proceedings.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for an hour and 13 minutes.
• The Opposition Leader was present for 32 minutes.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 18 lawmakers (17%) were present at the outset and 26 (25%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PML-N and JUI-F attended the sitting.
• Two minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• The House passed the Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Unani, Ayurvedic and Homoeopathic Practitioners (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
• The House referred three private members’ bills to the relevant committees which were the Islamabad Capital Territory Watersides Safety Bill, 2020, the Protection of the Rights of Religious Minorities Bill, 2020 and the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
• Five other private members’ bills on the agenda were deferred on the request of absent movers.
• The House passed two motions under Rule 115 regarding withdrawal of as many bills. The withdrawn bills were the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2018] (Amendment of Fourth Schedule) and the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2018] (Amendment of Article 30).
• Another motion regarding withdrawal of the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Amendment of Article 213) was deferred due to mover’s absence.
• The House adopted two resolutions which demanded to establish separate lock ups for the custody of juveniles in all police stations of Islamabad Capital Territory and take necessary measures to promote cultural norms and social values of our society with particular reference through electronic media.  These resolutions were sponsored by PTI and MQM lawmakers respectively.
• The House adopted a supplementary resolution which demanded not to shift tax payer units of Federal Board of Revenue from Quetta to Karachi and Peshawar to Islamabad. The resolution was sponsored by a lawmaker belonging to BAP.
• Three other resolutions on the agenda were deferred.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House debated a motion under Rule 218 regarding importance of telemetering system for distribution of water amongst the provinces and reasons for non-implementation of the same in the country. Five lawmakers participated in debate on it for 18 minutes while Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs responded to it.
• Three other motions under Rule 218 were deferred. Two motions were deferred following consent of the movers and one due to the absence of relevant lawmaker.
• Three lawmakers spoke on points of public importance for 23 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• The House was adjourned to meet again on August 25, 2020 (Tuesday) at 1600 hours.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

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