ISLAMABAD, January 18, 2016: The Senate unanimously passed eight private bills amid low attendance of lawmakers during sixth sitting of 123rd session on Monday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

The Leader of the House moved a motion under Rule 263 to dispense the provisions of rules 94, 95, 97 and 98 pertaining to notice period, referral of the Bills to the Standing Committees concerned upon introduction, publication of Bills and supply of copies of the Bills to the Members respectively in order to introduce, consider and pass the eight Private Members’ Bills as adopted by the House unanimously on the report of the Committee of Whole.

Some key observations are as follows:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for four hours and 58 minutes.
• The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
• The House had a prayer break for 20 minutes.
• The Chairman presided over the sitting for three hours and 35 minutes while the rest of the proceeding was chaired by a member of Panel of Chairpersons.
• Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for three hours and 35 minutes while the Opposition Leader was not present.
• 22 (21%) Senators were present at the start and 11 (10%) at the time of adjournment.
• Parliamentary leaders of PML-N, JUI-F, PML, MQM, PML-F, BNP-M, PPPP, PTI, NP and PkMAP were present.

Output

• The House passed eight private members’ bills including the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Bill, 2016; the Law Reforms (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) (Amendment) Bill, 2016;    the Anti-Terrorism Act (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Arbitration and Conciliation Bill, 2016.
• Sponsored by MQM lawmaker, the House adopted two resolutions. A resolution regarding deputing female staff in all departments of Gynecology, breast cancer and mammogram in Government hospitals in the Federal Capital and the other resolution adopted by the House was about taking effective steps to explore new reserves of oil and gas.
• Two resolutions about implementing the 18th Amendment in letter and spirit and control the indecent and vulgar material on electronic, print media and on web were carried forward on the request of mover.
• A resolution to defreeze allowances of the Federal Government employees since July 1, 2015 was dropped due to absence of mover.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Reforms presented report of the Committee on Demand Nos. 9, 13 and 14 made by the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
• The House did not consider the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2015 due to mover’s absence.
• The House rejected the Registration of Hajj and Umrah Operators Bill, 2016 with voice majority.

Representation and Responsiveness

• An Adjournment Motion (AM) about the speech delivered by US President Barack Obama predicting instability in parts of Pakistan for decades was discussed. Twenty lawmakers including Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs spoke on it for 87 minutes.
• The House discussed a motion under Rule 218 about need for establishment of new public hospitals in Islamabad in view of its increasing population. Twelve legislators spoke on it for 44 minutes.
• A motion about performance of private Hajj operators during Hajj 2015 was also discussed by nine lawmakers for 49 minutes.
• Another motion about failure of PHA Foundation to develop the infrastructure work and complete the construction work of Officers’ Housing Scheme, Kurri Road, Islamabad was discussed. Two lawmakers spoke on it for nine minutes.
• Two other motions were deferred on the request of movers.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.

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This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceeding conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted.