ISLAMABAD, March 13, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh deferred debate on an adjournment motion about rolling back of the 18th Constitutional Amendment by the federal government, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daly Factsheet on Wednesday.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 32nd sitting of the fourth session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for two hour and eight minutes; however, the proceedings remained suspended for three minutes due to Azan break.
- The sitting started at 1630 hours against the scheduled time of 1300 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for 30 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the sitting.
- The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 68 lawmakers (40%) were present at the outset and 34 lawmakers (20%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, TLP and MMAP attended the sitting.
- As many as five out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output
- Moved by a PPPP lawmaker, the Sindh Assembly unanimously adopted a supplementary resolution to pay tribute to great freedom fighter Hosh Muhammad Sheedi in connection with his 176th death anniversary. As many as two lawmakers spoke on this resolution for 18 minutes.
- The House adopted another supplementary resolution to condemn hike in prices of petroleum products and gas. It was moved by an MMAP lawmaker and two lawmakers also spoke on it for 21 minutes.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Minister for Transport answered four out of five starred questions while one question was not taken up due to the absence of mover. In addition, the lawmakers asked 17 supplementary questions.
- The House deferred debate on an Adjournment Motion (AM) of PPPP lawmaker regarding rolling back of the 18th Constitutional Amendment by the federal government. The AM was admitted for debate in previous sitting.
- Sponsored by an MQM lawmaker, the House did not take up another AM regarding steps by the government to check child abduction incidents.
- The Ministers for Food, Education & Literacy and Local Government responded to three Calling attention notices (CANs) regarding sub-standard products being produced by factories, over-charging by school van drivers and parking fee at public places.
- Two other CANs on the agenda were not taken up due to absence of movers.
Order and Institutionalization
- As many as 10 lawmaker raised Points of order consuming 21 minutes of the proceedings.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on March 21, 2019 (Thursday) 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