Parliamentary leaders of the PML-N and the MQM, the parties which had requisitioned the 32nd session of the National Assembly did not attend any of the two sittings of the session that was prorogued on Friday. Nisar Ali Khan and Farooq Sattar, parliamentary leaders of the PML-N and MQM respectively, remained absent from the two-day proceedings of the Lower House.
However, the parliamentary leader of a single-member National People’s Party attended the session that was requisitioned by the PML-N and the MQM to discuss the recent violence in Karachi, the government’s alleged failure in implementing the Supreme Court’s orders and the alleged rigging in the recent AJK elections, said a report compiled by FAFEN. While the parties having requisitioned the session could not ensure maximum attendance of their members, participation of treasury members also remained low. Almost 47 percent of the members of the National Assembly attended the session, with only 73 members present at the beginning of each of the two sittings, and 80 at the adjournment of each sitting. The speaker of the House did not attend the entire session.The deputy speaker presided over the session for 311 minutes, and the remaining 31 minutes were chaired by a member of Panel of Chairpersons. A total of 13 members – 12 male and one female – took part in the debates during the two-sitting session that lasted five hours and 42 minutes. These debates consumed two-thirds of the total session time.
A party-wise analysis of time spent on debates by the members of various parliamentary parties showed that members of the PML-N had the highest participation, with five of its members speaking for 85 minutes. This was followed by four members of the MQM, who spoke for 88 minutes. One member each from the PPP and the PML-Q spoke for 16 and 20 minutes respectively. Two independent members also participated in the debate by speaking for 18 minutes.