FAFEN PARLIAMENT MONITOR th

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1 NATONAL ASSEMBLY OF PAKSTAN FAFEN PARLAMENT MONTOR th 7 SESSON Oct 2 Oct 11, 2017 FREE AND FAR ELECTON NETWORK

2 ABBREVATONS AJP Awami Jamhoori ttehad Pakistan ANP Awami National Party APML All Pakistan Muslim League AMLP Awami Muslim League Pakistan BSP Benazir ncome Support Program BNP Balochistan National Party CANs Calling Attention Notices ND ndependent Member J Jamaat-e-slami JU-F Jamiat-e-Ulema-slam (Fazlur Rehman) MQM Muttahida Qaumi Movement MUR Motion under Rule NP National Party NPP National Peoples Party PkMAP Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party PML Pakistan Muslim League PML-F Pakistan Muslim League (Functional) PML-N Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) PML-Z Pakistan Muslim League (Zia-ul-Haq Shaheed) PPPP Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians PT Pakistan Tehreek-e-nsaf QWP-S Qaumi Watan Party (Sherpao)

3 SESSON HGHLGHTS Session Number 7 Actual Sittings 08 Cumulative Duration 17 Hours & 1 Minutes Average Sitting Delay 37 Minutes Marked mprovement Witnessed in National Assembly's Proceedings 73% of Agenda Addressed during 7th Session mportant Laws on Elections and Right to nformation Passed Private Member's Bill on Organ Transplantation Approved SLAMABAD, October 12, 2017: The National Assembly transacted 73% of the scheduled business during its 7th session while the proceedings marked an improvement with regards to the quorum and the attendance of lawmakers, observes Free and Fair Election Network in its session report based on direct observation of the House proceedings. The Assembly did not take up 19% of the agenda items appearing on the Orders of the Day whereas % agenda was dropped due to the absence of relevant lawmakers while an additional 3% business kept pending till the prorogation of the session. Only one out of eight sittings was adjourned due to the lack of quorum in comparison to the five out of nine sittings during the preceding session when the proceedings had to be wound up due to quorum issues. The House approved the important legislation on the conduct of future elections in the form of the Elections (Amendment) Act, 2017 which also got passage from the Upper House of the Parliament i.e. the Senate of Pakistan. The lawmakers also gave assent to a bill, the Right of Access to nformation Act, 2017, seeking information from the state and government departments, by replacing the archaic Freedom of nformation Ordinance, A private member's bill providing for voluntary donation of human organs in case of accidental or brain death was also passed by the House. n total, the House passed five bills, referred eight legislative proposals to relevant committees, adopted four resolutions, sought government's response on nine Calling Attention Notices and held three Question Hours during the reporting period. The eight-sitting session spanned over 17 hours and 1 minutes. Each sitting, on average, continued for two hours and 12 minutes. The Prime Minister was observed to be present during two sittings for an hour and four minutes (six percent of the proceedings), while the Leader of the Opposition attended all the sittings and remained present for four hours and 29 minutes (25% of the proceedings). According to official attendance records, 200 (58%) lawmakers attended each sitting on an average. The highest attendance 255 members present was recorded during the first sitting while the lowest attendance 130 members present was witnessed during the fifth sitting. As per the headcount conducted by FAFEN at the commencement and conclusion of the sittings, on average

4 SESSON HGHLGHTS Members at Outset (Average) 63 present Members at End (Average) 80 present Government Bills ntroduced Government Bills Passed 63 lawmakers were present at the start and 80 at the adjournment of each sitting. Out of eight minority lawmakers, on average, six were present during each sitting. The Speaker remained present during four sittings and presided over 18% of the proceedings (three hours and 16 minutes) while the Deputy Speaker attended eight sittings and chaired 72% of the proceedings (12 hours and 37 minutes). Nearly four percent of the sittings (0 minutes) were presided over by a Member of the Panel of Chairpersons while five percent of the proceedings (53 minutes) were lost in suspensions due to various prayer breaks. Among the leaders of 18 parliamentary parties, those of PPPP and PkMAP remained present in every sitting while the sole member of APML attended seven sittings. The parliamentary leaders of PT, MQM, PML and PML-F did not attend any of the sittings, while the attendance of the remaining parliamentary leaders is given in table 1.1. Legislation: The House passed four government bills and a private member's bill initiated by MQM lawmakers. The government's legislation focused on elections, right to information and audit reforms. Brief description of the bills approved by the House is given below: Ÿ The Elections Bill, 2017 The Elections Bill 2017 provided for the unification of eight electionrelated laws and reforms in the electoral processes. The bill was drafted by the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms and presented before the House on August 7, The bill was received back from the Senate where it was passed with amendments to the earlier version passed by the National Assembly on August 22, Ÿ The Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2017 The bill seeks to revive the Articles 1, 7B and 7C of the Conduct of General Elections Order, The Order was repealed under the Elections Act, The revived clauses provide for separate electoral rolls for Ahmadis. The amendment bill also proposes to change the wording of the declaration to be given by the election candidates. Ÿ The Right of Access to nformation Bill, 2017 The bill seeks to provide for the right to information in a transparent and efficient manner. t replaces the Freedom of nformation Ordinance, Ÿ The Auditor-General's (Functions, Powers and Terms and Conditions of Service) (Amendment) Act, 2017 The bill seeks to amend the Auditor- General's (Functions, Powers, Terms and Conditions of Service) Ordinance, 2001 in light of the Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment. t also provides for allowing the department of Auditor General of Pakistan to access the electronic records of the public enterprises. Ÿ The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (Amendment) Bill, 2017 The amendment seeks to develop a mechanism for seeking permission of the citizens at the time of acquiring their Computerized National dentity Card regarding voluntary donation of their organs in case of accidental or brain death. The bill was moved by lawmakers belonging to MQM. The House also held first reading of the four government and as many private members' bills. These bills

5 STTNGS DURATON (hh:mm) 03:31 02:00 02:1 02:17 02:58 01:2 01:23 01: Speaker Deputy Speaker Prime Minister Leader of the Opposition Attended Sittings Presided over 18% Proceedings Attended 8 Sittings Presided over 72% Proceedings * 13 percent duration of session was consumed in prayer breaks or suspension of proceedings. Attended 2 Sittings Spent Attended 6% 8 time in the House Sittings Spent 25% time in the House Members At Outset Members At End Maximum Members

6 PARLAMENTARY LEADERS ATTENDANCE Mahmood Khan Achakzai 8 PkMAP attended Syed Naveed Qammar PPPP attended 8 ftikhar Uddin 7 APML attended Sahibzada Tariqullah J attended 6 Engr. Usman Khan Tarakai AJP attended 6 Ghulam Ahmed Bilour ANP attended 5 Aftab Ahmed Sherpao QWP-S attended Sardar Kamal Bangulzai 3 NP attended Sayed Essa Nori 3 BNP attended Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed 2 AMLP attended Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman 1 JU-F attended Muhammad jaz-ul-haq 1 PML-Z attended Ch. Pervez Ellahi PML attended 0 Dr. M. Farooq Sattar MQM attended 0 mran Khan PT attended 0 Saddar-ud-Din Rashidi PML-F attended 0

7 SESSON HGHLGHTS Private Bills ntroduced 1 Private Bills Passed 2 Adopted Motions 9 CAN s Taken up were referred to the relevant standing committees for further deliberations. The treasury-sponsored bills sent to the committees included the General Statistics (Reorganization) (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Evening Courts Bill, 2017, the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the Federal Employees Benevolent Fund and Group nsurance (Amendment) Bill, The private members' bills referred to the committees included the General Statistics (Reorganization) (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Amendment in Article 51 and 106), the Right to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the Trafficking in Persons Bill, Two of these bills were moved by the lawmakers belonging to PML-N while the remaining two by MQM legislators. The bill to amend the Constitution was introduced by a minority lawmaker of PML-N. Moreover, two legislative proposals submitted by private lawmakers were dropped due to the absence of PT and J relevant members. Furthermore, two private members' bills were deferred while one was not taken up by the House. Resolutions: The House adopted four resolutions, including three private members' resolutions, during the reporting session. n a resolution moved by the Minister for Postal Services, the House paid tribute to the Universal Postal Union and Pakistan Post on the occasion of World Post Day. The private members' resolutions urged the government to counter the propaganda against Balochistan, establish Baba Guru Nanak nternational University at Nankana Sahib and take measures to reduce indirect taxation in the country. The adopted resolutions were sponsored by the lawmakers belonging to PPPP, PML-N and J. Moreover, the House did not take up five private members' resolutions submitted by PML-N (2), PPP (1) PT (1) and J (1). Furthermore, two resolutions submitted by PT and PML-N lawmakers were dropped due to their absence from proceedings. Motions under Rule 259: The House did not discuss any of the 10 Motions under Rule 259 submitted by the private lawmakers to highlight issues of public importance. Four of such motions were submitted by the PML-N lawmakers, three by J, two by PPPP and one each by MQM and PT. The House also ignored taking up for discussion the Motion of Thanks to the President for his address to the Parliament. Reports: The standing committees presented their reports on 18 legislative proposals during the session. The committee on nterior presented its reports on eight bills while the committees on Cabinet Secretariat, Human Rights and Law & Justice reported on five, four and one bills, respectively. Moreover, 20 committees presented their periodical performance reports as required by the National Assembly's Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business Calling Attention Notices: The lawmakers moved 10 Calling Attention Notices (CANs) to draw the government's attention towards the issues of public importance. The House took up nine of these notices to seek treasury's response on the highlighted issues while one notice was deferred till the next session. The issues highlighted by the lawmakers include closure of internet services in various districts of Balochistan, delays in development work on Barakahu

8 SESSON HGHLGHTS 128 Starred Questions Resolution Adopted Call of Quorum 6 Walkouts/ Protest Housing Project of Pakistan Housing Foundation, increase in the tariffs of electricity and petroleum products, unavailability of headmasters in slamabad Model Schools for Boys, delay in the construction work of Baba Guru Nanak nternational University, missing aircraft of Pakistan nternational Airlines, electricity overbilling and rise in cases of breast cancer in the country. The deferred CAN was related to the issue of exploitation of poor street vendors by the employees of Capital Development Authority in slamabad. The PML- lawmakers submitted four CANs, and PPPP, MQM and JU-F one each. The remaining three CANs were jointly sponsored by the lawmakers belonging to two or more parties. Questions: The House did not hold Question Hour during the first four sittings due to the un-fulfillment of the requirement of 15 Days' notice period for questions, however, three Question Hours were held following the completion of notice period. As many as 195 questions, including 128 Starred Questions, were listed for answers. A written as well as oral answer is required for a Starred Question. However, the House took up only 18 (1%) Starred Questions for oral answers. As many as 89 questions 0 starred and 9 unstarred were not given replies in writing. The remaining questions were not answered during the proceedings either due to the absence of relevant lawmakers or due to the conclusion of Question Hour. The lawmakers asked 0 supplementary questions. As many as 56 lawmakers, including 29 women, exercised their right to ask questions. As many as 15 out of these lawmakers belonged to PPPP, 12 to PML-N, eight to MQM, seven to PT and remaining 1 to other parties, including JU, J, PkMAP and ndependents. Points of Order: The House spent 38% of the proceedings in discussing various issues through Points of Order (PO) and Matters under Rule 18. The lawmakers raised a total of 85 POs consuming six hours and 6 minutes of the proceedings. Protests and Walkouts: The Assembly witnessed six incidents of protest and walkouts during the session. The opposition lawmakers staged protests during the consideration and passage of the Elections Act, A federal minister along with other lawmakers belonging to treasury party walked out from the proceedings during fourth sitting over the inclusion of their names in a list of persons having links with proscribed organizations. The lawmakers of MQM staged two walkouts to register their protest against knife attacks on women in Karachi and reservations on National Population and Households Census, These lawmakers in collaboration with their colleagues from PPPP walked out over poor state of affairs in Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM). Another opposition party, PT staged a walkout during last sitting to protest over denying the party's lawmaker chance to speak on a PO. Quorum: The opposition lawmakers belonging to PT and PPPP pointed out lack of quorum four times during the session. However, the quorum was found complete on three occasions while once the sitting was adjourned due to the quorum issue.

9 ABOUT FAFEN FAFEN is one of the most credible networks of civil society organizations working for strengthening citizens' voice and accountability in Pakistan since FAFEN has harnessed information technology for real-time monitoring, facilitation and technical backstopping of partners for effective and resultbased 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. mproved 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 0,000 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 18,300 followers on Twitter and around 117,000 on Facebook, FAFEN is considered one of the most reliable sources of electoral and parliamentary information in the country. Free and Fair Election Network