NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF PAKISTAN

th7 SESSION

FAFENPARLIAMENT

MONITOR

January 14 - January 25, 2019

FREE AND FAIR ELECTION NETWORK

www.fafen.org www.openparliament.pk

ANP Awami National Party

AMLP Awami Muslim League Pakistan

BNP Balochistan National Party

CANs Calling Attention Notices

IND Independent Member

MQMP Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan

PML Pakistan Muslim League

PML-N Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)

PPPP Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians

PTI Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

GDA Grand Democratic Alliance

BAP Balochistan Awami Party

JWP Jamhoori Wattan Party

MMAP Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Pakistan

ABBREVIATIONS

ISLAMABAD, January 29, 2019: The National Assembly did not address 61

percent of its agenda during seventh session that continued between

January 14 to January 25, 2019. The House spent four hours and 29

minutes (19 percent) of the proceedings debating the killings of civilians

in Sahiwal and three hours and 41 minutes (16 percent) on Points of

Order discussing energy, agricultural, political and other issues while the

proceedings remained suspended for three hours and 14 minutes (14

percent) due to protests or lack of quorum.

The ten-sitting session's agenda comprised four government bills, an

ordinance, 19 private members' bills, 11 resolutions, 12 Motions under

Rule 259, ten Calling Attention Notices (CANs) and 239 questions

including 168 Starred Questions. The House did not address 11 private

members' bills, 11 Motions under Rule 259, nine resolutions, six CANs while

also skipping the Question Hour in four regular sittings. The House passed

two bills and referred five bills to the relevant standing committees. In

addition, the lawmakers rejected two bills with the majority vote and

adopted two resolutions during the session. In addition, one ordinance

was also laid in the house.

The average attendance per sitting recorded a slight improvement

since the Assembly's last (sixth) session. On an average, 249 lawmakers

were marked present during the seventh session as compared to 239

lawmakers during previous session.

A total of 133 out of 342 (or 39 percent) lawmakers including 29 men and

104 women participated in the proceedings of the House by

contributing to the agenda and/ or to debates. The participating

lawmakers included 45 members of PTI, 36 of PML-N, 28 of PPPP, eight of

MMAP, four each of MQM and BNP, three Independents, two each of

BAP, GDA and one of PML.

On the other hand, 209 (61 percent) lawmakers including 36 women did

not participate in the proceedings throughout the session. The non-

participating members included 110 of PTI, 49 of PML-N, PPPP (27),

MMAP (eight), PML (four), MQM & BAP (three each) and one each of

AMLP, ANP, GDA, JWP and an Independent lawmaker.

The session's proceedings were repeatedly interrupted by the protests,

walkouts or lack of quorum. The opposition lawmakers staged five

walkouts and three protests over the issues relating to legislation, use of

improper language and exclusion of questions from the agenda.

Moreover, they identified the quorum four times that led to the

suspension of proceedings for 49 minutes and an early adjournment of a

sitting.

12Working

Days

10Total

Sittings

3Hours & 14 Minutes

TotalBreak Time

23Cumulative

Duration

Hours & 20 Minutes

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ADDRESSES 39% AGENDA DURING SEVENTH SESSION

133 Lawmakers Participate in the Proceedings

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107present

Members at End(Average)

58present

Members at Outset(Average)

43Average

Sitting Delay

Minutes

Session, Duration and Attendance1

The seventh session of the National Assembly comprised ten sittings held

between January 14 and January 25, 2019. Cumulatively, the House

assembled for 23 hours and 20 minutes, of which the proceedings

remained suspended for three hours and 14 minutes due to suspension.

Each sitting, on an average, commenced 43 minutes behind the

scheduled time and continued for nearly two hours and 20 minutes. The

Speaker presided over the proceedings for 13 hours and 46 minutes (68

percent of the session) during eight sittings while the Deputy Speaker

chaired the proceedings for 50 minutes (four percent) during one sitting.

The remaining five hours and 30 minutes (28 percent) of the proceedings

were chaired by a member of Panel of Chairpersons belonging to PTI.

The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) attended only one sitting during

the session for 63 minutes (four percent of the proceedings). The Leader

of the Opposition was present in eight sitting staying in the House for five

hours and 53 minutes (25 percent of the proceedings).

The official attendance records indicate that the average per sitting

attendance was 249 (73 percent) during the session. According To

headcounts conducted by FAFEN, an average 58 (17 percent)

lawmakers were present at the commencement and 107 (31 percent)

at the adjournment of each sitting.

The parliamentary leaders of PML-N and BAP were most regular among

the leaders of parliamentary parties as they were observed present in

every sitting of the session. They were followed by leaders of PPPP and

PML who attended nine and seven sittings, respectively. The leaders of

JWP and GDA attended five sittings each, MMAP, ANP and AMLP four

sittings each and MQM three. The parliamentary leader of BNP did not

attend any sitting during the session.

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 agenda brought before the House during seventh session

comprised an ordinance and 23 bills – 19 sponsored by the private

members and four by the government. The House passed two

government bills and referred one government and three private

members' bills to the relevant committees following their first reading i.e.

introduction in the House. The government also introduced the Finance

Supplementary (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019; however, the House

did not proceed to vote or debate on the bill. The House deferred two

private members' bills on the request made by the initiators while a

private member's bill of PTI lawmaker was withdrawn. Moreover, the

249Maximum Member

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Deputy SpeakerSpeaker Leader of the OppositionPrime Minister

1 ISittings

4%Proceedings

Presided overAttended

8 ISittings

68%Proceedings

Presided overAttended

1 ISittings

Attended

5%

Spent

time in the House

8Sittings

Attended

I 25%

Spent

time in the House

*27 percent proceedings was chaired by a member of panel of chairperson.

SITTINGS DURATION (hh:mm)

MEMBERS’ ATTENDANCE

KEY MEMBERS’ ATTENDANCE

Members at Outset Members at End

03:11

01:54

02:57

03:40

02:0802:31

03:29

01:1300:54

01:23

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

4457

4834

2642

52

11298

66

97

46

8169 72

103

80

237

134149

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS ATTENDANCE

Rana Tanveer

PML-N10I attended

Asad Mehmood

MMAP4I attended

Ch. Tariq Bashir Cheema

PML7I attended

Syed Naveed Qammar

PPPP9I attended

M. Akhtar Mengal

BNP-M0I attended

Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed

AMLP

4I attended

Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui

MQMP3I attended

Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui

GDA5I attended

Shah Zain Bugtti

JWP5I attended

Amir Haider Khan

ANP4I attended

Khalid Hussain Magsi

BAP10I attended

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House did not grant leave to introduce two private members' bills

moved by PML-N and JUI-F lawmakers. However, the House referred the

JUI-F lawmaker's bill to the relevant standing committee on the

opposition's protest against the rejection of motion for introduction of

the bill. The remaining 11 private members were not addressed during

the session.

Out of 19 private members bills included on the Orders of the Day, PTI

lawmakers sponsored six bills and MQM lawmakers five bills. Similarly,

PML-N lawmakers sponsored three bills and MMAP and PPPP one bill

each. Moreover, an independent lawmaker also initiated two bills.

A brief description of the bills passed or introduced in the House is given

below:

2.1.1 Passed Government Bills

1The West Pakistan Prohibition of Smoking in Cinema Houses (Repeal) Bill, 2019

The bill proposes to repeal the West Pakistan Prohibition of Smoking in Cinema Houses Ordinance, 1960 as it has become obsolete and redundant after promulgation of the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers' Health Ordinance, 2002.

Date of Introduction: January 14, 2019

Date of Presentation of Committee Report: Bill Not Referred to Committee

Date of Passage: January 14, 2019

2 The Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2019

The bill proposes to increase the number of judges in the Islamabad High Court from seven to ten to overcome the difficulties of litigant public for early disposal of long pending cases.

Date of Introduction: December 21, 2018

Date of Presentation of Committee Report: January 18, 2019

Date of Passage: January 25, 2019

1 The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019

The bill provides for reservation of a seat in the National Assembly for women from Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

2.1.2 Introduced Govt. Bills

2 The Finance Supplementary (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019

The bills aims to give effect to taxation and other financial proposals of the federal government.

2

5Bills

Introduced

19Private

Members’ Bills

2Bills

Passed

23Total Bills

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1 The Elections (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019

The ordinance provides for grouping two or more separate areas in a single constituency for the purpose of elections to be held for the seats of Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

Date of Promulgation: January 2, 2019

Date of Laying in the House: January 25, 2019

2.1.3 Ordinance Laid

10 The Un-attended Orphans (Rehabilitation and Welfare) Bill, 2019

11 The Pakistan Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019

1 The Microfinance Institutions (Amendment) Bill, 2019

The bill seeks to provide soft loans to persons with disabilities through the microfinance institutions on Karachi Inter Bank Offered Rate (KIBOR).

2.1.4 Introduced Private Members' Bills

2 The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Amendment to Article 37)

The bill seeks to eliminate the exemption granted to non-Muslims for consumption of alcoholic liquor.

3 The National Database and Registration Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2019

The bill seeks to address the issues concerning security clearance of the NIC applicants. The proposed amendment provides for issuance of NIC on production of the registered land record, domicile certificates, Pedigree (Shajra-e-Nasab) issued and verified by Revenue department, government employment certificates, verified education certificates, passport or other identity documents issued by the government of Pakistan like arms license or driving license.

2.1.5 Rejected Bills:

1 The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Article 198)

The bill provides for establishing the benches of Lahore High court in multiple districts.

2 The Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2019

The bill proposes to enhance the number of Judges in Islamabad High Court (IHC) from six to ten and ensure the representation of all federating units in the IHC.

2.1.6 Deferred Bills:

1 The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (Amendment) Bill, 2019

2 The Emigration (Amendment) Bill, 2019

2.1.7 Withdrawn Bill:

1The Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers Health (Amendment) Bill, 2019

2.1.8 Unaddressed Bills:

1 The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Article 62 and 63)

2 The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Article 51 and 59)

3 The Pakistan Rights of Persons with Disability Bill, 2019

4 The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Article 37)

5 The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Section 489F)

6 The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Section 166A, B, 176A, B, C, D, E, F and G)

7 The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Article 51, 76 and 106)

8 The Family Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2019

9 The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Section 365C)SE

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1Ordinance

Laid

5Bills referred

to Committee

1Private

Member’sBill Withdrawn

3Private

Members’ Bills Introduced

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2.2 Resolutions

The House did not address the nine private members' resolutions

included on the Orders of the Day. However, the lawmakers adopted

two supplementary resolutions condemning the murder Ex-MNA Syed

Ali Raza Abidi and demanding the government to declare drought-

affected areas of Balochistan as calamity-hit areas.

The unaddressed resolutions related to load shedding of natural gas;

restoration of non-stop train service from Sialkot to Rawalpindi;

discouraging beggary; educational increments of all federal

government employees; completion of M-4 Motorway from Gojra to

Multan; withdrawal of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess; declaring

Friday as a weekly holiday; include the rental ceilings to federal

government employees along with their salaries to; and improvement in

the performance of Pakistan embassies abroad.

The private members resolutions were submitted by lawmakers

belonging to PTI, MMAP, PML-N, and PPPP. The lawmakers belonging to

PTI submitted four resolutions, PPPP three and PML-N and MMAP

lawmakers one each. As many as four of the nine resolutions were

submitted by female lawmakers and the remaining by their male

colleagues.

2.3 Amendments

The House did not consider two proposals for amending the Rules of

Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 2007. A PTI

lawmaker's proposal sought amendment in the Rule 61 to limit the

number of days allotted for discussion on the Presidential Address to

Houses of Parliament to ten. It further sought to amend the Rule 91 to

increase the notice period for Calling Attention Notice (CAN) from one

day to two days. A PPPP lawmaker proposed to insert a new Chapter in

the rules to provide for submission of public petitions to the National

Assembly.

2.4 Reports

The government presented three statutory reports in the House during

the session. The Federal Minister for Human Rights laid the Annual Report

of the National Commission on the Status of Women for the year, 2017.

The Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs presented the Election

Commission of Pakistan's Report on I-Voting Pilot Test in 35

Constituencies held on October 14, 2018 and the Annual Report of the

Federal Public Service Commission for the year 2017.

Moreover, the Chairman Standing Committee on Law and Justice also

presented the committee's report on the Islamabad High Court

(Amendment) Bill, 2019. Although the Committee approved the bill with

majority of the vote and recommended to pass it as introduced in the

National Assembly, seven members of the committee wrote a note of

dissent.

9Resolutions

Not Taken Up

3AmendmentsNot Taken Up

4Reports

Presented

2ResolutionsAdopted

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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

According to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the

National Assembly, the first hour of every sitting except Tuesday is

reserved for asking and answering of questions by the members.

Although eight out of ten sittings were held on days other than Tuesday,

the House observed the Question Hour during four sittings only. The

requirement to hold the Question Hour was suspended in three of these

sittings while no question was listed for answer during the last sitting.

As many as 239 Questions – 168 Starred and 71Unstarred – were listed for

answers during the session. The Rules of Procedure require the executive

to answer a Starred Question orally as well as in writing while the Un-

starred Questions are to be replied only in writing.

Out of 168 starred questions, only 32 Starred Questions were taken up for

oral answers while one question was disposed of and the remaining 135

starred questions were not taken up. The lawmakers asked 71

supplementary questions for further elucidation of the Starred Questions.

Out of the total questions, 72 questions were sponsored by 19 PPPP

lawmakers, 61 questions by 17 PML-N lawmakers; 59 by 20 PTI lawmakers

and 19 by three MQM lawmakers. Similarly, 17 questions were sponsored

by six MMAP lawmakers, three by three BNP-lawmakers and three by a

GDA lawmaker. Moreover, two Independent lawmakers also submitted

five questions.

The questions appearing on the list were addressed to 27 ministries or

departments of the government and their break-up was as following:

1. Federal Education and Professional Training 13

2. Aviation Division 5

3. Cabinet Division

9

4. Climate Change Division

4

5. Commerce and Textile

6

6. Establishment Division

4

7. Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs

23

8. Foreign Affairs

11

9. Housing & Works

10

10. Industries & Production

3

11. Information and Broadcasting

2

12. Information Technology and Telecommunication 2

13. Interior 69 14. Inter-Provincial Coordination 5 15. Maritime Affairs 1 16. Narcotics Control

1

17. National Food Security and Research 6

71Supplementary

Questions

135Questions

Not Taken Up

1Question

Disposed of

168Starred

Questions

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3.2 Calling Attention Notices

The Assembly took up four out of 10 Calling Attention Notices appearing

on the Orders of the Day. These notices highlighted the issues regarding

closure of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) operation on Kuala

Lumpur-Peshawar route; closure of Swat airport; usage of multiple

identification techniques (e.g. eye-scan) for processing NICs, mobile

SIMs, bank accounts; and grievances of farmers concerning delay in

exporting vegetables and fruits.

The unaddressed CANs related to the report of World Health

Organization on Pakistan's governance of public pharmaceutical

sector, sufferings and financial crisis of farmers, increase in the prices of

medicines, delay in the payment of pension to the employees by

Pakistan Steel Mills, low gas pressure and its load-shedding in

Abbottabad city and unavailability of electricity to two Union Councils

(UC) of Chitral.

As many as three CANs were individually sponsored by PTI lawmakers

while remaining seven CANs were jointly sponsored by PPPP, PML-N,

MMA, PML and PTI lawmakers.

3.3 Motions

As many as 12 motions on matters of Public Importance under Rule 259

and a Motion of Thanks to the President for his Address to the Parliament

were part of the Assembly's agenda for seventh session. The House did

not address 11 of these motions. The House, however, held a debate on

a government-sponsored motion under Rule 259 regarding killing of

civilians by Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab near Sahiwal

Toll Plaza on January 19, 2019. A total of 33 lawmakers participated in the

debate consuming 269 minutes (19 percent) of the proceedings.

The House adopted a motion under Rule 244 (B) authorizing the Speaker

to constitute a Committee of the Parliamentary Leaders in the National

Assembly to regulate the conduct of Members. Moreover, the House

passed a motion to elect the Standing Committees and authorized the

Speaker to finalize the members of the committees.

18. National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination

16

19. National History and Literary Heritage

2

20. Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development

5

21. Planning, Development and Reform

4

22. Prime Minister’s Office

2

23. Railways

7

24. Religious Affairs

3

25. Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony

6

26. Statistics 1

27. Water Resources 19

4CANs

Taken Up

12Motion

under Rule 259

10Calling

AttentionNotices

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6CANs

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4.1 Points of Order

As many as 39 lawmakers raised Points of Order (POs) consuming three

hours and 41 minutes (16 percent) of the proceedings. The discussion on

POs concerned the energy and provincial matters, parliamentary

business, agricultural and political issues. Moreover, 13 lawmakers raised

matters of public importance under Rule 18 to discuss the delay in

finalization of terms of reference of Parliamentary Committee on

General Elections 2018, constitution of committee to discuss problems of

people from erstwhile FATA, share of Sindh in National Finance

Commission (NFC) award.

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

4.2 Question of Privilege

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.

4.3 Quorum

The quorum was identified on four occasions during the session by the

lawmakers belonging to PPPP, MMAP, and PML-N. On the first instance,

the quorum was found complete over the headcount while later on the

identification of quorum led to the adjournment of a sitting as well as

suspension of the proceedings for 51 minutes.

4.4 Walkouts and Protests

The opposition lawmakers staged four walkouts during the session. The opposition's joint walkouts were instigated by the Chair's decisions to disallow members from speaking on points of order and an alleged use of abusive language by a treasury lawmaker. A MMAP lawmaker also staged individual walkouts twice in protest against exclusion of his questions from the agenda.

In addition, the opposition and independent lawmakers staged three protests over a controversial voting on the Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2019, and the remarks of ministers. The protest against voting on the bill also led to suspension of the proceedings for an hour and four minutes. The ministers' provocative remarks had targeted the political leadership of the opposition parties. Moreover, the opposition lawmakers also protested for 45 minutes during the statement of the Minster for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs on the supplementary budget.

1Question of

Privilege

4Instances of

Identification of Quorum

7 Walkouts &

Protests

39Members

raising Points of Order

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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 has harnessed information technology for real-time monitoring, facilitation and technical backstopping of partners for effective and result-based program delivery.

§ 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's recommendations for electoral reforms have contributed to the work of Parliamentary Committee for Electoral Reforms.

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§ 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'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.

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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.

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