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The National Assembly's budget session was marred by a protest drive launched by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) against the Prime Minister and other political issues, said a report compiled by the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen).
Fafen issued its preliminary report on the assembly's 42nd session on Friday and said that only 41 legislators (12 percent of the total membership) took part in the debate on the budget, much less than 139 legislators (or 41 percent of the members) spoke on the budgetary proposals.
Out of the total 41 members who took part in the debate, there were only two members belonging to PML-N, Ahsan Iqbal who opened the budget debate. The second PML-N member who took part in the debate was Abdul Qadir Baloch. Later, the party boycotted the session and continued noisy protest inside the House.
PML-N, which has been challenging Prime Minister Gilani constitutional status following his conviction from Supreme Court in a contempt of court case, hampered most of the budget session's agenda.
The report stated that though it was a first time in Pakistan's history that a sitting elected government presented fifth consecutive budget, the session was marred by the opposition's protests over the prime minister's conviction.
In the first sitting, it said, legislators came to blows, as the Finance Minister started delivering the budget speech.
The report further stated that almost 23 percent of the session's time (365 minutes) was consumed by protests and walk-outs. MQM legislators walked out of the House on two occasions over the matter of targeted killings in Karachi. PMLN legislators staged protests in all the sittings.
Moreover, the Leader of the Opposition did not open the general discussion on the budget - a tradition that has been followed in the previous parliamentary years, the report pointed out.
The report said that the PML-N showed less interest in the budget and only two percent of its total 91 legislators expressed their views during the general debate.
Similarly, 16 percent (14 out of 127) legislators of the ruling Pakistan People's Party-Parliamentarians (PPPP) took part in the debate, it added. Twenty-eight percent (seven out of 25) members of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), 21 percent (three of 14) lawmakers of the Awami National Party (ANP) took part in the debate.
Only 16 percent (eight out of 50) legislators of Pakistan Muslim League (PML), one Member each of Mutihida Majlis-e-Amal Party (MMAP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) took part in the budget debate. Five Independents also participated, the report added. One member each of the Pakistan People's Party-Sherpao (PPPS), Balochistan Awami Party (BNPA) and National People's Party (NPP) remained silent.
The report added that the Finance Bill 2011 was presented during the first sitting of the session, in which the Minister for Finance and Revenue addressed the House for 23 minutes amid a strong protest by PML-N legislators.
PML-N's disinterest was also evident from the fact that it brought in no Cut Motions - a means to express disapproval or dissatisfaction over budgetary proposals, the report maintained. However, the opposition introduced 471 cut motions during the fourth parliamentary year and 660 in the third year.
The budget session this year lasted 26 hours and four minutes against last year's 31st session, which met for 75 hours and 45 minutes. The House took only 10 sittings to pass the federal budget. Each of these sittings lasted an average of two hours and 24 minutes, with an average delay of 50 minute, the report added.
The debate on the budget took more than 15 hours of the session. Only 14 PPPP members took almost 256 minutes to express their views, the report said. Two PML-N members took 212 minutes, seven MQM members 188 minutes, eight PML members 122 minutes, three ANP members 52 minutes, one MMAP member four minutes and one PMLF member took three minutes to speak during the general debate. Five Independents spoke for a cummulative 72 minutes, it said.
The report further said that since the National Assembly Secretariat does not make attendance records of its members public, Fafen conducted a head-count of legislators at the beginning and end of each sitting. It also documented the actual time spent on the floor of the House by the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.
The report said that the Prime Minister, who has maintained the tradition of attending most of the sittings, attended only two during the budget session, mainly because of the opposition's protest. Similarly, the Leader of the Opposition also attended just two sittings.
NPP's parliamentary leader attended nine sittings, BNP-A seven, MQM and ANP four each, and PML-N and PPP-S heads attended two sitting each, the report added.
It said that the attendance of members remained low during the entire budget session. During the session, on an average 82 members were present at the start of each sitting and 114 at the end, adding that a total of 192 members (56 percent of total NA Strength) were present during the 10th sitting when the Finance Bill 2012-13 was passed.
The Speaker chaired the proceedings for 14 percent of the session time; the Deputy Speaker presided over the 58 percent. The remaining time (17 percent) was chaired by Members of Panel of Chairpersons, the report said, adding that 11 percent of time spent was consumed by breaks on accounts for prayers.
The report added that the lack of Quorum remained an issue during the entire session.
The opposition also tried to use Quorum as an excuse to disrupt the proceedings. On five occasions - in fifth, seventh and eighth sittings - it was pointed out by PML-N legislators, but on count the Quorum was found complete. However, during the fourth sitting the sitting had to be suspended for 27 minutes, as one-fourth of the members were not present, FAFEN report added.
The House adopted two Resolutions. The first called the Federal Government to extend the time period of Drug Regulatory Authority Ordinance, while the other backed the Speaker's ruling on the Prime Minister's disqualification cannot be challenged on any forum. The report further noted that two calling attention notices appearing on the Orders of the Day were not taken up during the session, the report added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2012

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