ISLAMABAD, January 25, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh was adjourned on Friday without addressing its agenda amid the opposition’s protest, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 12th sitting of the fourth session:
Members’ Participation
- The Assembly met for an hour and 12 minutes; however, the sitting remained suspended for 10 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1125 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
- The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
- As many as 48 lawmakers (29%) were present at outset and 95 lawmakers (57%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, TLP, MQMP and MMAP attended the sitting.
- As many as seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output
- The House did not address five CANs, a Privilege and Adjournment Motion and a report of the Select Committee.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Minister for Prisons responded to three out of seven Starred Questions while the remaining four questions were called out but not answered due to the opposition’s protest. The lawmakers asked seven supplementary questions as well.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers belonging to PTI, GDA and MQMP protested for 34 minutes against the Chair’s decision to disallow a resolution which they wanted to move during the Question Hour. The lawmakers were demanding to move a resolution against the attack on a PTI lawmaker.
- The proceedings were suspended for ten minutes due to the protest.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on January 28, 2019 (Monday) at 1400 hours.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.
This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.