NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF PAKISTAN FAFEN PARLIAMENT MONITOR 8th SESSION February 20 - March 06, 2019
FREE AND FAIR ELECTION NETWORK www.fafen.org www.openparliament.pk ABBREVIATIONS 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-N Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)
PPPP Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians
PTI Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
GDA Grand Democratic Alliance
JWP Jamhoori Wattan Party
MMAP Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Pakistan NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ADDRESSES 62% AGENDA Total Sittings DURING EIGHTH SESSION Pos Consume 62% of the Proceedings' Time 8 None out of the Eight Sittings Start on Time The National Assembly did not address 38 percent of the agenda during eighth session that continued between February 20 and March 6, 2019. The House spent seven hours and 55 minutes (62 percent) on various Points of Order (POs) while debating the Indian violation of Pakistani airspace, arrest of the Sindh Assembly Speaker and political and other Working issues. The proceedings remained suspended for three hours and 36 Days minutes (22 percent) due to the protests, prayers breaks and lack of quorum. The eight-sitting session agenda comprised three government bills, two Calling Attention Notices (CANs), Motion under Rule 259, Motion of 15 Thanks, debate on Senate recommendations on Finance (second amendment) Bill, report on a legislative proposal and four statutory reports. The House passed two bills including the Finance Supplementary (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019 while one bill was referred to the relevant committee. The House did not witness order in the House during Cumulative the passage of Money Bill as only 22 minutes were consumed to pass the Duration bill. Moreover, a Motion under Rule 259, two CANs remained unaddressed while the Question Hour in first two regular sittings, debate on Senate recommendations on the Money Bill and a Motion of Thanks were also skipped. The National Assembly did not observe punctuality during the session as 16 none of the sittings were started on time. The maximum delay of three Hours & 23 Minutes hours and 26 minutes was witnessed during seventh sitting while two hours and 32 minutes during the first sitting. The minimum delay of 18 minutes was witnessed during third and sixth sittings. The seventh sitting was the shortest one that continued for just seven minutes, whereas the fifth sitting was the longest that continued for four hours and 55 minutes. Total Break Time 1 Session, Duration and Attendance SSION HIGHLIGHTS
The eighth session of the National Assembly comprised eight sittings held 3 between February 20, 2019 to March 6, 2019. Cumulatively, the House Hours & 36 Minutes assembled for 16 hours and 23 minutes, of which the proceedings remained suspended for three hours and 36 minutes due to suspension.
SE Each sitting, on an average, commenced an hour and ten minutes behind the scheduled time and continued for nearly two hours and
www.fafen.org 01 three minutes. The Speaker presided over the proceedings for six hours and 17 minutes (49 percent of the session) during six sittings while the Deputy Speaker, remaining present in seven sittings, chaired the proceedings for six hour and 30 minutes (51 percent). Average Sitting Delay The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend any of the sitting. The official attendance records indicate that the average per sitting attendance was 227 (66 percent) lawmakers during the session. According to headcounts conducted by FAFEN, an average of 75 (21 percent) lawmakers were 1 present at the commencement and 76 (22 percent) at the adjournment Hour & 10 Minutes of each sitting. The parliamentary leaders of BAP attended the maximum seven sittings followed by PPPP and GDA who attended six sittings each. The leader of MMAP and PML-N attended five sittings each, PML four sittings, JWP three and ANP two. The parliamentary leaders of BNP, MQM, and AMLP did not attend any sitting during the Members at Outset session. It was the second consecutive session when the BNP (Average) parliamentary leader did not attend any of the sitting. 75 2 Assembly Output This section deals with the legislative business, resolutions, amendment present to the rules, reports and documents presented before the House during the session
2.1 Legislation
Members at End The legislative agenda brought before the House during the eighth (Average) session comprised three government bills. The House passed two government bills and referred one government bill to the relevant committees following its reading i.e. introduction in the House. A brief description of the bills passed or introduced in the House is given 76 below: present 2.1.1 Passed Government Bills
21 The Finance Supplementary (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019
Maximum The House passed the Finance Supplementary (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019 which aims to give effect to taxation and other financial proposals of Member the federal government. The bill was passed in 22 minutes after clause by (Average) clause reading during last sitting. A total of four lawmakers spoke on the Finance Supplementary (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019 during the current SSION HIGHLIGHTS session for an hour and 29 minutes while Minster for Finance concluded debate on it during his 24 minutes speech. As per salient features of the bill, import of plant and machinery by green 227 field industrial projects would be exempted from customs duty while non- filers will be allowed to purchase locally manufactured vehicles irrespective of engine capacity and business income will be exempted for five years to SE encourage green field projects.
www.fafen.org 02 SITTINGS DURATION (hh:mm)
04:55 04:10
02:35
01:20 01:29 01:30
00:17 00:07
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
KEY MEMBERS’ ATTENDANCE
Speaker Deputy Speaker Prime Minister Leader of the Opposition
Attended Presided over Attended Presided over Attended Spent Attended Spent 6 49% 7 51% 0 0% 0 0% Sittings I Proceedings Sittings I Proceedings Sittings I time in the House Sittings I time in the House
MEMBERS’ ATTENDANCE 163 143 148 149 131 129 123 120 103 86
59 59 56 51 34 24
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Members at Outset Members at End www.fafen.org 03 PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS ATTENDANCE
Khalid Hussain Magsi Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui Syed Naveed Qammar Asad Mehmood 7 6 6 5 BAP I attended GDA I attended PPPP I attended MMAP I attended
Rana Tanveer Ch. Tariq Bashir Cheema Shah Zain Bugtti Amir Haider Khan 5 4 3 2 PML-N I attended PML I attended JWP I attended ANP I attended
Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui M. Akhtar Mengal 0 0 0 MQMP BNP-M AMLP I attended I attended I attended
www.fafen.org 04 Date of Introduction: January 23, 2019 Date of Presentation of Committee Report: No requirement to refer the Finance Bill to Committee as per Rule 122 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in National Assembly Date of Passage: March 6, 2019 3 2 The Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2018 The bill seeks to authorize the Election Commission to constitute a bench of Total two members. Existing legal provisions allow a bench comprising at least Bills three members only. Date of Introduction: December 17, 2018 Date of Presentation of Committee Report: February 25, 2019 Date of Passage: March 4, 2019
2.1.2 Introduced Govt. Bills
1 The Heavy Industries Taxila Board (Amendment) Bill, 2019 The basic purpose of the bill is to utilize, create and enhance commercial 1 capacity and capability for manufacturing marketable products, promote Bill sales thereof and provide services within country and abroad through establishment of limited company. Introduced Date of Introduction: March 4, 2019 Committee: Referred to Standing Committee on Defence Production
2.2 Resolution
The House unanimously adopted a joint resolution strongly rejecting Indian allegations seeking to link the Pulwama attack to Pakistan and 1 also denounced the continuing reprisal attacks on Kashmiris in Indian Occupied Kashmir. It stressed that India's smear campaign should not Resolution delude and obscure the real issues of the human rights nightmare and Passed humanitarian emergency prevalent in IOK due to the Indian atrocities. It further emphasized that no one should underestimate Pakistan's resolve to defend itself against any act of aggression.
2.3 Reports
A member of the Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs presented report on the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2018. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs presented reports on the State of the Economy for the year 2018-19 and the Fiscal and Debt Policy Statements SSION HIGHLIGHTS 2 for the year 2018-19. Parliamentary Secretary for Finance presented reports of Biannual Monitoring on the Implementation of 7th NFC Award Bills and the Special Audit reports of the Auditor General for the audit year Passed 2017-18. SE
www.fafen.org 05 3 Representation and Responsiveness
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 80 government and to articulate issues of public interest and importance. 3.1 Questions Starred According to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the Questions National Assembly, the first hour of every sitting except Tuesday is reserved for asking and answering of questions by the members. Six out of eight sittings were held on days other than Tuesday but the Questions appeared only in first two sittings of session. On both occasions, question hour was not observed. Out of total 80 questions, 14 female lawmakers from BNP-M, PTI, GDA and PML-N sponsored 25 questions while the remaining 55 questions were sponsored by 32 male lawmakers belonging to MQM, MMA, PML- 55 N, PPPP, PTI and Independent. Questions by Fourteen questions were sponsored by seven PPPP female lawmakers; six questions by four PTI female lawmakers; two questions each by a GDA Male Members and BNP female lawmakers while one question was sponsored by a PML- N lawmaker. Out of the 55 questions sponsored by male lawmakers, 22 questions were sponsored by 13 PTI lawmakers; 16 by eight PML-N lawmakers; 11
by seven PPPP lawmakers; three by an MMMP lawmaker, two by as many Independent lawmaker and one by an MQM lawmaker. No. of Ministries Questions 25 1. Federal Education and Professional Training 15
Questions by 2. National Food Security and Research 10 3. National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination 9
Female Members 4. Industries & Production 7 5. Railways 6 6. Housing & Works 6 7. Aviation Division 6 8. Water Resources 5 9. Cabinet Division 4 10. Information and Broadcasting 4 11. Information Technology and Telecommunication 2 12. Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony 2 13. Maritime Affairs 1 SSION HIGHLIGHTS 0 14. Climate Change Division 1 15. Establishment Division 1 Question 16. National History and Literary Heritage 1 Taken Up Grand Total 80
SE
www.fafen.org 08 3.2 Calling Attention Notices
Only two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) appeared on the Orders of the Day during the session but were not taken up. The first CAN sponsored by PTI lawmaker was regarding ban on the export of Gur (Molasses) while other jointly sponsored by PML-N and MMAP lawmakers was regarding increase in the Hajj expenses due to withdrawal of 2 subsidy by the Government. Calling Attention 3.3 Motions Notices A motion under Rule 259 to debate energy situation in the country and the possible way forward appeared on agenda of the session but it was not taken up. Likewise, the House did not take up Motion of Thanks to the President for his address to both Houses assembled was not considered during the session. The agenda on two private members' day was also deferred 2 following passage of two motions. CANs 3.4 Committee Business Remained The House adopted four motions to form as many Committees on Unaddressed Finance, China Pakistan Economic Corridor, National Security and Kashmir and the Speaker was authorized to nominate members for these committees. Similarly, two other motions were passed to form Special Committee on Agriculture and Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir. 4 Order and Institutionalization 1 Order and institutionalization are important for an efficient and productive legislature. This section provides information about the Motion members' Question of Privilege, Points of Order, Quorum and any under Rule instances of walkout, protest or boycott during the proceedings. 259 4.1 Points of Order
Lawmakers spoke on 63 Points of Order (POs) during the session for seven hours and 55 minutes. These POs were related to Indian violation of Pakistani airspace, foreign issues, political affairs including the arrest of Sindh Assembly Speaker by NAB authorities and a controversial statement by Federal Minister for Water Resources.
SSION HIGHLIGHTS The Speaker, in his observation, condemned the Indian war-hysteria 63 appealed to the international community to take notice of Indian Points of aggression. Order SE
www.fafen.org 09 4.2 Walkouts and Protests
The opposition lawmakers staged protests during second and third sittings for 14 minutes and six minutes respectively. On the both occasion, they demanded the Chair to allow them to speak first on points of order rather than government lawmakers. 4 During the 8th sitting, the Opposition lawmakers protested on floor of the Walkouts & House for eight minutes against passage of the Finance Bill in haste and Protests refusal of the Chair to Parliamentary Leader of MMAP for tabling a resolution. Later, they walked out of the proceedings till adjournment of sitting.
4.3 Quorum
The quorum was identified on two occasions during the session by the lawmakers belonging to PPPP and PML-N. On the first instance, the proceedings remained suspended for 15 minutes and for 53 minutes on 2 the second occasion. Quorum SSION HIGHLIGHTS SE
www.fafen.org 10 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. § FAFEN's advocacy for parliamentary transparency, accountability and reforms has shaped public discourse on parliamentary reforms. Improved citizens' access to parliamentary information including daily public release of parliamentarians' attendance records can be directly attributed to FAFEN's work. § 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. § With more than 25,000 followers on Twitter and around 144,000 on Facebook, FAFEN is considered one of the most reliable sources of electoral and parliamentary information in the country.
Free and Fair Election Network www.fafen.org www.openparliament.pk www.parliamentfiles.com
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.