ISLAMABAD, July 13, 2021: The Senate transacted 90 percent of its agenda on Tuesday and referred a government bill to the relevant committee, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during second sitting of 313rd session:

 Members’ Participation

• The House met for three hours and 13 minutes; however, the proceedings remained suspended for 14 minutes due to prayer break.
• The sitting started at the scheduled time of 05:00 pm.
• The chairman presided over the proceedings for two hours and 16 minutes, while the remaining sitting was chaired by the deputy chairman.
• The leader of the House attended the entire sitting.
• The leader of the opposition was present for two hours and 10 minutes.
• As many as 19 lawmakers (19 percent) were present at the outset and 16 (16 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, PML-N, JUIP and JI attended the sitting.
• Two out of four minority lawmakers were present.

 Output

• Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs introduced the Control of Narcotic Substances (Second Amendment) Bill, 2021 which was referred to the relevant committee.
• The House witnessed presentation of reports on four legislative proposals including the Federal Medical Teaching Institutes Bill, 2021; the National Institute of Health (Re-organization) Bill, 2021; the Mutual Legal Assistance (Criminal Matters) (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the Enforcement of Women’s Property Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Minister for Railways responded to a calling attention notice regarding tragic train crash in Ghotki resulting death of 66 passengers and injuries to several others.
• Another CAN on the agenda was dropped due to absence of mover.
• The House took up six out of seven starred questions, while lawmakers also asked 14 supplementary questions.
• The Chair asked the parliamentary leaders to submit names of lawmakers who want to speak on motion of thanks to the President for his address to Parliament.

 Order and Institutionalization

• The opposition walked out from the House at 05:09 pm against the absence of relevant ministers during question hour following which the Chair also suspended the proceedings for 14 minutes.
• Lawmakers belonging to opposition staged walk out against unsatisfactory reply of minister to a question.
• Six lawmakers spoke on points of order for an hour and nine minutes which were related to allocation of more resources to Balochistan and Kashmir issue.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 at 10:00 am.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of Senators is available on Senate 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