ISLAMABAD, May 11, 2016: The National Assembly passed three government bills on Wednesday during the third sitting of 32^nd 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 two hours and 59 minutes.
• The proceeding remained suspended for 63 minutes due to lack of quorum.
• The sitting started at 1039 hours against the scheduled time 1030 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for 82 minutes while rest of the proceeding was chaired by a member of the Panel of Chairpersons as the Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader did not attend the sitting.
• Eleven Federal Ministers attended the sitting.
• 46 MNAs (13%) were present at outset and 28 (8%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, ANP, BNP-A, AMLP, APML, JI, PML-Z, PML and QWP-S attended the sitting.
• Four minority members were present.

Output

• Minister for Law and Justice introduced the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Civil Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2016 before the House.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Commerce presented the report of the committee on the State Life Insurance Corporation (Re-organization and Conversion) Bill, 2016.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization presented the reports of the committee on the Credit Bureaus (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
• The House passed the State Life Insurance Corporation (Re-organization and Conversion) Bill, 2016, the Credit Bureaus (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2016. The requirement of the Rule 123(2) was dispensed with to consider and pass these bills.
• Chairman of the Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control presented the Periodical Report of the committee for the period from July to December, 2015.
• The House adopted a supplementary resolution moved by Minister for Defence Production condemning the hanging of Amir JI Bangladesh Mutaee-U-Rehman.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Question Hour was not be held due to suspension of the sitting owing to lack of quorum during first hour.
• The Minister for Commerce responded to a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding adverse effect of import of milk, whey powder and meat on local farmers’ interests.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised 20 Points of Order consuming 46 minutes of the sitting.
• The Opposition lawmakers continued their boycott of the House for third consecutive sitting and walked out at 1058 hours. They did not return till adjournment of the sitting.
• A PTI lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1101 hours. The Chair suspended the proceeding at 1105 hours after the counting. The sitting resumed at 1208 hours.

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.