• Addresses Eighth Sitting of 34^th National Assembly Session; Lack of Quorum Disrupts Passage of Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill

ISLAMABAD, August 10, 2016: The National Assembly on Wednesday witnessed the pledge of the Prime Minister to defeat terrorism in the country with full might while lack of quorum prevented the passage of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during eighth sitting of the 34^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for four hours and 39 minutes.
• The proceedings remained suspended for 25 minutes due to prayer’s break.
• The sitting started at 1500 hours against the scheduled time of 1503 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for 142 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
• The Prime Minister attended the sitting for an hour and 32 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for three hours and 54 minutes.
• Eighteen lawmakers (5%) were present at outset while 73 (21%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, JUI-F, JI, AMLP, APML, QWP-S and ANP attended the sitting.
• Nine minority members were present.

Output

• The Minister for Law and Justice introduced the Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy Technologies Bill, 2016 on behalf of the Minister for Science and Technology. The bill was referred to the committee.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs presented report of the Committee on Members, Election Commission (Salary, Allowances, Perks and Privileges) Bill, 2016. The House condoned the delay in the presentation of the report.
• Five lawmakers debated the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill, 2016 for 63 minutes.
• Moved by Minister for Law and Justice, the House adopted a resolution to commemorate 69^th anniversary of the inaugural sitting of the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Prime Minister made 13-minute long statement on the recent incidents of terrorism in the country.
• The House took up nine out of 34 Starred Questions. The lawmakers also asked 14 Supplementary Questions.
• The House did not take up two Calling Attention Notices (CAN) appearing on ‘Orders of the Day’. The first CAN was left unaddressed due to the absence of movers while the second CAN could not be taken up due to an early adjournment of the sitting.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on 10 Points of Order that consumed 84 minutes of the sitting.
• The entire opposition staged a walkout for six minutes against the statement of Interior Minister.
• The lawmakers belonging to MQM staged a walkout for two minutes against raids at their party camps in Karachi.
• A PPPP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1939 hours that led to the adjournment of the House at 1942 hours.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

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.