ISLAMABAD, November 11, 2019: The National Assembly was adjourned on Monday due to lack of quorum amidst absence of the Leaders of the House and the Opposition, observes Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during third sitting of 16th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 26 minutes; however, the proceedings remained suspended for 26 minutes due to prayer break.
- The sitting started at 1636 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 58 minutes while the remaining sitting was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
- The Leaders of the House (Prime Minister) and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 52 (15%) were present at the outset and 43 (13%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of MMAP, BAP, GDA, PML-N and ANP attended the sitting.
- Six out of 10 minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- Tabled by Minister for Housing and Works, the House adopted a resolution seeking extension of the Recovery of Mortgaged-backed Security Ordinance, 2019 for a further period of one hundred and twenty days with effect from November 15, 2019.
- Parliamentary Secretary for Finance presented the Tax Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 and the annual report of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan on the statement of accounts of SECP, certified by the auditors for the year ended on the June 30, 2017.
- Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs presented the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 while another Ordinance – the China Pakistan Economic Corridor Authority Ordinance, 2019 – was not laid.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up eight out of 31 starred questions while lawmakers asked 19 supplementary questions as well.
- Parliamentary Secretary for Federal Education and Professional Training responded to a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding non-utilization of funds of Rs. 2981.069 million for scholarships to the students from Balochistan and erstwhile FATA.
- Another CAN and a motion of thank to the President for his address to the both Houses were not considered by the House.
Order and Institutionalization
- As many as sixteen lawmakers spoke on Points of Order consuming 58 minutes (40%) of the proceedings’ time.
- A PPPP lawmaker pointed out the quorum when the Chair disallowed one of her colleagues to speak on a point of order. The quorum was found incomplete and the House was adjourned to meet again on November 14, 2019 (Thursday) at 1100 hours.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of the lawmakers is available on the National Assembly’s website.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted
