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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF PAKISTAN
th10 SESSION
FAFENPARLIAMENT
MONITOR
May 24 - May 31, 2019
FREE AND FAIR ELECTION NETWORK
www.fafen.org www.openparliament.pk
AMLP Awami Muslim League Pakistan
BNP Balochistan National Party
IND Independent Member
MQMP Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan
CANs Calling Attention Notices
PML-N Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)
PML Pakistan Muslim League
PPPP Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians
PTI Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
ANP Awami National Party
BAP Balochistan Awami Party
GDA Grand Democratic Alliance
JWP Jamhoori Wattan Party
MMAP Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Pakistan
ABBREVIATIONS
ISLAMABAD, May 14, 2019: The National Assembly of Pakistan (NA)
addressed less than one third (or 30 percent) of its scheduled business
during its 10th session that continued between May 24, 2019 and May 31,
2019, observes Free and Fair Election Network in its session report.
Of 342 lawmakers, 73 (21 percent) including 50 men and 23 women
contributed to the proceedings of the House by sponsoring various
parliamentary interventions and/or contributing in the debates. The
active lawmakers belonged to BNP-M, JUI, MMAP, MQM, PML-N, PPPP
and PTI. On the other hand, 268 (78 percent) lawmakers including 222
men and 46 women did not participate in the proceedings throughout
the session. The lawmakers who did not participate in the proceedings
belonged to AMLP, ANP, BAP, BNP-M, GDA, JWP, MMAP, MQM, PML,
PML-N, PPPP, PTI and four independent candidates.
The overall business including regular and supplementary agenda
brought before the House during ninth session comprised one
government and 11 private members' bills, five resolutions, six Calling
Attention Notices (CANs), a standing committee report, 64 questions,
five Motions under Rule 259, two matters of public importance under
Rule-87, a Motion under Rule 244(B) and a discussion on the Motion of
Thanks to the President for his annual address to the Parliament.
8Working
Days
4Total
Sittings
0Minutes
TotalBreak Duration
4Cumulative
Duration
Hours & 42 Minutes
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY TRANSACTS ONLY 30% SCHEDULED BUSINESS DURING 10TH SESSION
133 Lawmakers Participate in the Proceedings
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Session, Duration and Attendance1
The 10th session of the National Assembly spanned over eight working
days and comprised of four sittings held between May 22 and May 31,
2019. The cumulative duration of the sittings was four hours and 42
minutes while the proceedings remained uninterrupted. Each sitting, on
an average, started 14 minutes behind the scheduled time and lasted
for an hour and ten minutes. The Prime Minister and the Leader of the
Opposition did not attend any sitting during the session. The
parliamentary leader of PPPP attended four sittings and was followed by
leaders of PML-N and BNP-M who attended three sittings each. The
leaders of ANP and BAP attended two sittings each while the leaders of
AMLP, PML, MQM, MMAP and GDA did not attend any sitting.
According to the headcount conducted by FAFEN observer, an
average 83 lawmakers were present at the outset and 125 at the
adjournment of each sitting. The Speaker attended two sittings and
presided over the House for an hour and 40 minutes (35 percent of the
125present
Members at End(Average)
83present
Members at Outset(Average)
14Average
Sitting Delay
Minutes
Assembly Output2
This section deals with the legislative business, resolutions, amendment
to the rules, reports and documents presented before the House during
the session.
2.1 Legislation
The legislative business scheduled for 10th session included 11 private
members' bills and a government-sponsored bill. The House referred four
private members' bills to the relevant standing committees following
their first reading i.e. introduction in the House while a bill titled the
Minorities Access to Higher Education Bill, 2018 was rejected. Moreover,
a proposal for amending the Article 239 of the Constitution was deferred
and an amendment to the Civil Servants Act, 1973 was dropped due to
absence of the concerned lawmaker. The House left the remaining four
private members' bills and a government bill unaddressed. The private
members' legislation was sponsored by the lawmakers belonging to
PPPP, PTI and MQM. PPPP lawmakers sponsored six bills, PTI four and
MQM one.
Below is given brief description of the bills passed by or introduced in the
House.
205Maximum Member
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proceedings) while and Deputy Speaker attended three sittings and
chaired three hours and two minutes (65 percent of the proceedings).
2.1.1 Introduced Bills:
1 The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Section 329A)
The bill seeks to criminalize the concealment of the birth of a child to protect the lives of children abandoned by the biological parents at the time of birth. The bill also provides for the confidentiality of the mother's name in case of handing over the custody of an illegitimate child to a government child protection center.
Mover: Nafeesa Inayat Ullah, PTI
Date of Introduction: May 28, 2019
2 The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Article 25)
The proposed amendment seeks to qualify the already-guaranteed equality of citizens before the law by explicitly mentioning that the state shall not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, color, age, disability, religion or language.
Mover: Nafisa Shah, PPPP
Date of Introduction: May 28, 2019
3 The Federal Newborn Screening Bill, 2019
The bill provides for developing a newborn screening mechanism in the public health system in order to eliminate or reduce child mortality, morbidity and disabilities.
Mover: Nafeesa Inayat Ullah, PTI
Date of Introduction: May 28, 2019
Deputy SpeakerSpeaker Leader of the OppositionPrime Minister
3 ISittings
65%Proceedings
Presided overAttended
2 ISittings
35%Proceedings
Presided overAttended
0 ISittings
Attended
0%
Spent
time in the House
0Sittings
Attended
I 0%
Spent
time in the House
SITTINGS DURATION (hh:mm)
MEMBERS’ ATTENDANCE
KEY MEMBERS’ ATTENDANCE
Members at Outset Members at End
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00:17
00:2000:19
00:00
1 2 3 4
103
58 60
111
141
79 77
187
1 2 3 4
PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS ATTENDANCE
Rana Tanveer
PML-N3I attended
Asad Mehmood
MMAP0I attended
Ch. Tariq Bashir Cheema
PML0I attended
Syed Naveed Qammar
PPPP4I attended
M. Akhtar Mengal
BNP-M3I attended
Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed
AMLP
0 I attended
Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui
MQMP0I attended
Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui
GDA0I attended
Amir Haider Khan
ANP2I attended
Shah Zain Bugtti
JWP0I attended
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Khalid Hussain Magsi
BAP2I attended
4Bills
Introduced
12Total Bills
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4 The Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2019
The amendment provides for imposing fine for delayed or no registration of a newborn child with the local government authorities. The bill seeks to ensure the timely registration of children.
Mover: Nafeesa Inayat Ullah, PTI
Date of Introduction: May 28, 2019
2.2 Resolutions
The lawmakers initiated six resolutions in the National Assembly during its
10th session. The House adopted only one of these resolutions moved as
supplementary agenda to offer condolences on the demise of the
Federal Minister for Narcotics Control Mr. Ali Muhammad Khan Mahar.
The remaining five resolutions appearing on the agenda were initiated
by private lawmakers and were not addressed during the session.
The unaddressed resolutions urged the government to send a
delegation to visit Roza of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him),
provide clean drinking water in educational institutions, and take steps
to control manufacturing of spurious medicines, price hike, and use of
narcotics.
2.3 Amendments2.3 Reports
The House did not take up a motion for presentation of the Standing
Committee on Interior's report regarding the National Database and
Registration Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
2.4 Amendments to Rules of Procedure
The House did not take up four motions for amending the Assembly's
Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, 2007. These proposals for
amendments were initiated by the private lawmakers belonging to PTI
and PPPP.
Representation and Responsiveness 3
This section gives statistical as well as qualitative overview of legislator's
interventions in the House – Questions, Calling Attention Notices (CANs),
Motions under Rule 259 or any other motions – for the oversight of
government and to articulate issues of public interest and importance
3.1 Questions
A total of 64 questions including 29 starred questions and 35 unstarred
questions were listed for answers during the session. The House took up
only six out of 29 starred questions during the proceedings. Under the
Assembly Rules of Procedure, the government is required to respond to a
starred question orally as well as in writing. The remaining 23 starred
29Starred
Questions
1Report
Presented
1Motion - 244 (B)
1ResolutionsAdopted
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questions remained unaddressed and were taken as read in absence of
their movers or due to lapse of the Question Hour. The lawmakers asked
13 supplementary questions as well for further elucidation of the
answers.
As many as 19 questions were sponsored by female lawmakers
belonging to JUI, PML-N, PPPP and PTI while male lawmakers belonging
to BNP-M, JI, MMAP, MQM, PML-N, PPPP, PTI and an independent
candidate raised 45 questions. The questions appearing on the list were
addressed to four ministries of the government and their break-up is as
following:
Ministries
Grand Total
Defence Production
1
Interior
57
Inter-Provincial Coordination
2
Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development
4
Grand Total 64
3.2 Calling Attention Notices
The lawmakers raised six CANs seeking government's response on the
issues concerning non-functioning of basic health units in Islamabad,
proposal of 51 percent cut in the budget of Higher Education
Commission, delay in construction of 177 schools in Abbottabad and
delay in constitution of Child Rights Commission. These notices were
sponsored by the lawmakers belongings to PML-N, PTI and PPPP. The
relevant government ministers responded to only two of the notices
while remaining four were left unaddressed.
3.3 Motions
The House passed a Motion under Rule 244(B) authorizing the Speaker of
the National Assembly to nominate 15 members for the Parliamentary
Committee on Protection of Minorities from Forced Conversions.
Moreover, the House did not address five Motions under Rule 259 on the
matters of public importance initiated by private lawmakers belonging
to PM-N, PTI and PPPP. The House also skipped a Motion of Thanks to the
President for his annual address to the Parliament.
Order and institutionalization are important for an efficient and
productive legislature. This section provides information about the
members' Question of Privilege, Points of Order, Quorum and any
instances of walkout, protest or boycott during the proceeding.
Order and Institutionalization4
6Calling
AttentionNotices
5Motion
under Rule 259
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4.1 Points of Order/ Matters under Rule
As many as 12 Points of Order (POs) were raised during the proceedings
that consumed an hour and 32 minutes. These POs highlighted the issues
related to law and order, media freedom and political matters.
Moreover, the House did not take up two matters of public importance
under Rule 87 raised by the lawmakers belonging to PPPP and MMAP
regarding the ban on an Indian mobile game Players Unknown
Battlegrounds (PUBG) and allocation of budget for Quetta-Karachi
National Highway which were not taken up by the House.
4.2 Walkouts and Protests
A MMAP lawmaker raised a Question of Privilege (QoP) stating that a
misleading statement by the government in response to his question
about opening and closing time of Lowari tunnel had breached his
privilege as a parliamentarian. The question was forwarded to the
relevant committee for its report. 1
Walkout
12Members
raising Points of Order
1
Protest
ABOUT FAFEN
§ FAFEN is one of the most credible networks of civil society organizations working for strengthening citizens' voice and accountability in Pakistan since 2006.
§ FAFEN is the only civil society group to have been invited by the Judicial Commission to present the evidence of illegalities and irregularities documented through the course of General Elections 2013 Observation. The systemic and procedural issues identified by FAFEN have been acknowledged by the commission in its detailed findings.
§ FAFEN deployed 18,000 and 40,000 non-partisan and trained observers for the systematic observation of general election 2008 and 2013, respectively, largest citizens' observation ever undertaken in Pakistan.
§ FAFEN has harnessed information technology for real-time monitoring, facilitation and technical backstopping of partners for effective and result-based program delivery.
§ FAFEN's recommendations for electoral reforms have contributed to the work of Parliamentary Committee for Electoral Reforms.
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§ FAFEN's evidence and recommendations for reforms have improved the quality of public and political discourse on elections, its issues and need for reforms. Leading political parties and media houses extensively use FAFEN's election findings and analysis to build a case for reforms.
This report is based on direct observation of the proceedings of the National Assembly conducted by Free and Fair Election Network. Every effort has been made to keep this report, which deals with on-floor
performance of the Members, accurate and comprehensive. Errors and omissions are excepted.
Free and Fair Election Networkwww.fafen.org
www.openparliament.pk
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