ISLAMABAD, May 24, 2021: The Sindh Assembly on Monday did not consider a standing committee’s report, announcement of Governor’s assent to three bills and an adjournment motion, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during the second sitting of the 21st session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for three hours and 26 minutes.
- The sitting started at 03:15 pm against the scheduled time of 02:00 pm.
- The speaker chaired the sitting for two hours and 11 minutes while the rest of the proceedings was presided over by the deputy speaker.
- The leader of the house (chief minister) and the opposition leader did not attend the sitting.
- Twenty-two legislators (13 percent) were present at the outset and 31 (18 percent) at the end of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of MQMP, PTI, PPPP, and MMAP attended the proceedings while the leaders of GDA and TLP did not participate in the sitting.
- Six out of nine minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- The House did not take up a standing committee report on the Abdul Majid Bhurgri Institute of Language Engineering Bill, 2019 and announcement of the assent of Governor to three bills.
- Sponsored by minister for irrigation, the House adopted a supplementary resolution condemning the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) for cutting down the Sindh’s share of water. As many as 15 lawmakers – PPPP (9), PTI (3), GDA (2), and MQMP (one) – spoke on it for an hour and 31 minutes.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Out of ten starred questions, the House took up six related to the Department of Mines & Mineral Development. Besides, the lawmakers also asked 25 supplementary questions.
- The House also took up five CANs, which were related to the dog bite incidents in Sindh, ban on people’s mishandling the weak pages of Holy Quran, shortage of drinking water in Kemari/Sultanabad, burning of important government record due to fire broke in Finance Department of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, and non-completion of Safe City Project in Karachi. The CANs were raised by PTI, MMAP and MQMP lawmakers.
- The House did not take up an adjournment motion regarding adoption of 2017 census results by the Council of Common Interests.
Order and Institutionalization
- The PTI lawmakers protested for three minutes when the Chair allowed a PTI’s displeased lawmaker to speak on the resolution.
- The PTI lawmakers also protested for three minutes on the criticism of PPPP lawmakers on the Federal Government’s performance.
- The lawmakers belonging to PPPP also protested for two minutes when the PTI lawmakers criticized the Sindh Government’s performance.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 at 02:00 pm.
Transparency
- ‘List of Business’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- The attendance of lawmakers was not available to the observers and media.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.