MNAs took low interest in parliamentary duty

Express Tribune

13-02-2025

ISLAMABAD:
The first National Assembly session of 2025 saw only 36 members attending all the sittings and 35 members did not show up for the parliamentary duty even for a single day, the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen), a civil society network, said in its latest report on Wednesday.
The National Assembly held its 12 session from January 13-23, 2025. The house held a total of nine sittings to dispose of several agenda items, including the controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Amendment Bill.
According to the Fafen report, the last sitting on January 23 had the highest attendance of the National Assembly members (MNAs), when 241 or 68%, lawmakers were present. This was in contrast with the fifth session when the attendance with the lowest, with 117 MNAs, or 37% of the total house.
"As Many as 96 MNAs (35%) submitted applications for leave of absence during the session. As many as 181 MNAs (65%) skipped the house proceedings without any formal leave application in advance," reveals the report.
Among the ministers, it continued, the housing and works minister was the only minister to have attended all the sittings, so as the leader of opposition. The report pointed out that the prime minister attended on two sittings.
The report said that 36 (11%) members attended all the sittings, whereas 35 (11%) did not attend any sitting during the session. "MNAs from ICT [Islamabad Capital Territory] were more regular than the MNAs from other regions," it said, adding that 277 MNAs (82%) skipped at least one sitting.
"The attendance pattern fluctuated throughout the session, with female members consistently recording higher attendance than their male counterparts. However, only five (9%) female MNAs – three on reserved and two on general seats – attended all sittings.
Majority of lawmakers from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarian (PPPP), the opposition Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), and the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) attended more than half of the sittings. The sole lawmaker from BNP did not attend any sitting.
Other parties with only one member, including National Party (NP), Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), and Pakistan Muslim League-Zia (PML-Z), each attended more than half of the sittings, while the Majlis-e-Wahdat-ul-Muslimeen Pakistan (MWMP) lawmaker attended all the sittings.
The report commented that a lack of ministerial presence weakened legislative oversight. The current cabinet comprises the prime minister and 18 ministers – 12 MNAs and six Senators. Besides six MNAs hold the office of the ministers of state and 30 are parliamentary secretaries of various ministries.
"The report said that cabinet members from the Senate are not ordinarily required to attend the Assembly's session unless there's an agenda item pertaining to their ministry. 0attendance of 20 ministers was required in the Question Hour, but only six ministers attended all the relevant sessions.
Among the parliamentary leaders, the leaders of the SIC and the MWMP attended all the 9 sessions. The parliamentary leader of the PML-N attended six sessions, while the parliamentary leaders of the PPPP, the JUI, and the BNP did not attend any of the sessions, the report stated.