ISLAMABAD, January 21, 2016: The absence of Ministers in the Senate led to the suspension of the proceeding for 29 minutes during 9th sitting of ongoing 123rd Session on Thursday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

The Chair directed to suspend the proceeding at 1503 hours till the presence of Ministers in the House which resumed at 1532 hours.

Later, he also barred the Minister for Defense to attend the ongoing session due to his absence in the House as the discussion had to be started on his statement regarding the visit of the Chief of Army Staff to Afghanistan.

Some key observations are as follows:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for two hours and 38 minutes.
• The sitting started two minutes late against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• Deputy Chairman did not attend the sitting.
• The sitting remained suspended for 29 minutes due to absence of Ministers.
• The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting.
• The Opposition Leader attended entire sitting.
• Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• Twenty-one (20%) Senators were present at the start and 19 (18%) at the time of adjournment.
• Parliamentary leaders of PPPP and ANP were not present.

Output

• Chairman Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research presented the second follow up report regarding proposed conversion of 1400 acres land of National Agricultural Research Centre by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) into residential/commercial plots.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices (CANs). First notice was about wastage of precious time of students due to the protests being carried out by the teachers in Islamabad while other was about not giving equal representation to smaller provinces and FATA in the Governing Council and functional membership of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
• All 15 starred questions appearing on the agenda were taken up.
• The House passed a motion to give 30-day extension for presentation of report of the Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources which was about collection and payment of royalty on LPG to the Provinces.

 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.