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

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0Sittings

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SITTINGS DURATION (hh:mm)

MEMBERS’ ATTENDANCE

KEY MEMBERS’ ATTENDANCE

Members at Outset Members at End

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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

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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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