ISLAMABAD, May 16, 2016: The National Assembly took up its regular agenda while the Prime Minister made a statement on his family’s offshore businesses on Monday during sixth sitting of 32nd session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The National Assembly met for an hour and 57 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1708 hours against the scheduled time 1700 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
- The Prime Minister attended the sitting for 62 minutes.
- The Opposition Leader attended the sitting 91 minutes.
- Eighteen Federal Ministers attended the sitting.
- 131 MNAs (38%) were present at outset and 186 (54%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PTI, PML-F, PkMAP, ANP, JI, AMLP, APML, QWP-S, BNP-A and PML-Z attended the sitting.
- Five minority members were present.
Output
- Chairman Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control presented the report of the committee on the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015. The House condoned the delay in the presentation of the report.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Eleven out of 24 Starred Questions appearing on the agenda were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministers. The lawmakers asked 11 supplementary questions as well.
- The government responded to a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding non-provision of foreign scholarships to eligible students belonging to Balochistan while another CAN was not taken up.
- The Prime Minister made a statement before the House regarding his family’s off-shore businesses. He spoke for 31 minutes. The Leader of the Opposition replied to his speech for two minutes while the Minister for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs and Statistics also spoke for ten minutes on the issue.
Order and Institutionalization
- The Opposition lawmakers staged walkout at 1845 hours in protest against the Prime Minister’s speech which they alleged did not answer their queries. They did not return till adjournment of the sitting.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceeding conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted.
