ISLAMABAD, May 12, 2016: The Senate on Thursday discussed US-Pak F-16 deal during the 4^th sitting of its ongoing 248^th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet.

Following an Adjournment Motion (AM), the House discussed the withdrawal of proposed subsidy on sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan by the United States Administration.  Ten lawmakers, Chairman Senate and Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs spoke on it for 109 minutes.

Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for three hours and 55 minutes. .
• The sitting started at 1507 hours against its scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting and the Opposition Leader was present for 12 minutes.
• Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• 16 (15%) senators were present at the start and 12 (11%) at the time of adjournment.
• Parliamentary leaders of JUI-F, PkMAP, BNP-M, MQM, PTI, PML-N, PPPP, ANP and NP were present.
• Three minority members were present.

Output

• The House witnessed presentation of special report of Standing Committee on Textile Industry for the period from June 19, 2015 to March 30, 2016.
• Two reports of Standing Committee on Finance were presented. The first report was about the Corporate Rehabilitation Bill, 2015 and other was in response to a starred question about NAB’s inquiry on the privatization of MCB.
•  A report of Standing Committee on Law and Justice in response to a starred question about steps taken by the Government against illegal Housing Societies in Islamabad was also presented. Later, the same report was adopted by the House.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House discussed an AM regarding withdrawal of proposed subsidy on sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan by the United States Administration. Ten lawmakers, Chairman Senate and Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs spoke on it for 109 minutes. The Chair forwarded the matter to Standing Committees on Defence and Foreign Affairs to have further joint consideration on it.
• The House took all 20 starred questions appearing on the agenda. In addition, the lawmakers also asked 33 supplementary questions.
• Two AMs were deferred on written request of movers which were about non-settlement of long standing issue of peasants of Okara farms and custodial death of a political activist in Karachi at the hands of the law enforcement agencies.
• The Chair did not admit an AM for discussion about long standing service issues of the teachers from FATA. The SAFRON Minister informed the House that highlighted issues have been resolved.
• Two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) were dropped due to absence of movers. The first CAN was about corruption scandal of Rs. 2.32 billion surfaced in foreign ministry while another notice was about a US authorities letter questioning Sino-Pak defence cooperation.

Order and Institutionalization

• Thirteen Points of Public Importance consumed 49 minutes of the sitting.
• The Opposition boycotted the sitting at 1608 hours against the absence of Prime Minister and did not return till adjournment of sitting at 1902 hours.

Transparency

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

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