ISLAMABAD, January 7, 2020: The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs introduced the bills seeking to amend the procedures for appointment and extension of armed forces’ chiefs and the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee in the Senate on Tuesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during fifth sitting of the 295^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for 24 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1505 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leaders of the House and the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 15 lawmakers (14%) were present at the outset and 31 (30%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PML-N, PML-F and PkMAP attended the sitting.
• As many as two out of four minority lawmakers were present.

 Output 

• The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs tabled the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill, 2020, the Pakistan Air Force (Amendment) Bill, 2020, and the Pakistan Navy (Amendment) Bill, 2020. The National Assembly has already passed these bills. The House referred the bills to the Standing Committee on Defence for review and recommendations.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs presented a report of the committee on a point of public importance regarding the arrest of a Pakistani citizen in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia due to expiry of his visa.
• On behalf of the Chairperson Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication, a member of the committee presented its report on the pension issue of the retired employees of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL).
• The House granted 60-day extension to the Standing Committees on Foreign Affairs and Cabinet for presentation of their reports on the issues referred to them.
• The House did not consider the Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority Bill, 2019 and a motion of thanks on the agenda.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Chair deferred a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding fake India media outlets on the request of the minister while another CAN on the agenda was not taken up.
• The debate on the Annual Report of the National Commission on the Status of Women for the year 2017 was also deferred.

Order and Institutionalization

• The House was adjourned to meet again on January 8, 2020 (Wednesday) at 1500 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 proceeding conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted