Day: January 21, 2022

Islamabad, January 21, 2022 (PPI-OT):The Senate transacted almost half of its agenda on Friday and deferred four government bills, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the eighth sitting of 317th session:

Members’ Participation

The Senate met for an hour and 58 minutes.

The sitting started at the scheduled time of 10:30 am.

The chairman presided over the entire proceedings.

The deputy chairman was also present.

The leader of the house attended the entire sitting.

The leader of the opposition was present for an hour and 41 minutes.

The Prime Minister was not present.

As many as 19 lawmakers (19%) were present at the outset and 38 (38%) at the adjournment of sitting.

The parliamentary leaders of PML-N, PTI, PPPP, JI, PkMAP, BAP, NP and JUI-F attended the sitting.

All four-minority lawmaker were present.

Output

Three ordinances were laid in the House which were the National Rahmatul-Lil-Aalameen Authority Ordinance, 2021; the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Ordinance 2021 and the Pakistan Nursing Council (Emergency Management) Ordinance, 2021.

Chairman Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training, National Heritage and Culture presented special report of the Committee regarding implementation status of the findings of the inquiry committee constituted by the International Islamic University regarding the murder incident of a student of the University.

Minister for science and technology moved a motion for immediate consideration of the four government bills but it was not put for voting after being opposed by the opposition. Subsequently, the House deferred consideration of these bills which were the Allied Health Professionals Council Bill, 2022; the National Metrology Institute of Pakistan Bill, 2022; the Pakistan Nursing Council (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and the Islamabad Healthcare Facilities Management Authority Bill, 2022.

Representation and Responsiveness

The House took up eight out of 13 starred questions while five questions were not considered due to absence of relevant lawmakers. In addition, lawmakers asked 19 supplementary questions as well.

The House passed five motions under rule 194 (1) and granted extension to various standing committees for presentation of reports on matters referred to them.

Thirteen lawmakers spoke on points of public importance for 21 minutes which were mostly related to bomb blast in Lahore.

Three lawmakers debated a motion of thanks to the President for his address to Parliament. They spoke on it for 22 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

The House was adjourned to meet again on Monday, January 24, 2022 at 02:30 pm.

Transparency

Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.

Attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

For more information, contact:
Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN)
FAFEN Representative
FAFEN Secretariat 224, Margalla Road F-10/3 – Islamabad
Tel: +92-51-2211026
Fax: +92-51-2211047
Cell: +92-321-5017355, +92-301-8549188
Email: media@fafen.org
URL: www.fafen.org

Islamabad, January 21, 2022 (PPI-OT):The National Assembly addressed two-third agenda on Friday and adopted two resolutions to extend as many ordinances, observes Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during ninth and last sitting of the 40th session:

Members’ Participation

The National Assembly met for two hours and 25 minutes.

The sitting started at 10:37 am against the scheduled time of 10:30 am.

The speaker chaired the sitting for an hour and 16 minutes while the remaining sitting was chaired by a member of panel of presiding officers.

The deputy speaker did not attend the sitting.

The leaders of the house (Prime Minister) and the opposition did not attend the sitting.

As many as 35 (10 percent) lawmakers were present at the outset and 96 (28 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.

Parliamentary leaders of PML-N and AMLP attended the sitting.

Five minority lawmakers were present.

Output

The House adopted two resolutions to extend the Diplomatic and Consular Officers (Oath and Fees) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 and the National Rahmatul-Lil-Aalameen Authority Ordinance, 2021 for a further period of 120 days with effect from February 9, 2022.

Minister of state for parliamentary affairs presented the statement of contingent liabilities of the federal government for the current fiscal year.

Parliamentary secretary for law presented the annual reports of the Council of Islamic Ideology for the period from 2012-2018, and the report on Islamic law of inheritance.

Minister for energy introduced the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (Amendment) Bill, 2022 which was referred to the relevant committee.

Three reports of standing committees on as many legislative proposals were presented in the House. These legislative proposals were the Pakistan Airports Authority Bill, 2021; the Pakistan Civil Aviation Bill, 2021 and the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

The Housed passed a motion for consideration of the Global Change Impact Studies Centre (Amendment) Bill, 2021 during joint sitting of parliament.

The House did not consider two other government bills.

Representation and Responsiveness

The House did not take up any question during the question hour due to absence of relevant lawmakers.

Minister for energy responded to a calling attention notice (CAN) regarding shortage of gas in Karachi while another CAN was not taken up.

A motion of thanks to the President for his address to both Houses and a motion under Rule 259 were not taken up.

Moved by the Minister for foreign affairs, the House adopted a motion allowing the use of its hall for the 48th session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers to be held in March.

Order and Institutionalization

Four lawmakers including the Ministers for foreign affairs and energy spoke on points of order for 59 minutes.

A lawmaker belonging to PML-N pointed out the quorum at 10:49 am which led to the suspension of the proceedings for 51 minutes.

The session was prorogued sine die.

Transparency

‘Orders of the Day’ was available to legislators, observers and public.

Attendance of lawmakers was available to media and observers.

For more information, contact:
Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN)
FAFEN Representative
FAFEN Secretariat 224, Margalla Road F-10/3 – Islamabad
Tel: +92-51-2211026
Fax: +92-51-2211047
Cell: +92-321-5017355, +92-301-8549188
Email: media@fafen.org
URL: www.fafen.org