ISLAMABAD, November 17, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh passed one bill and adopted three resolutions while most of the Private Members’ agenda remained unaddressed on Thursday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during second sitting of the 28th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Sindh Assembly met for three hours and 16 hours.
- The sitting started at 1050 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- The proceedings were suspended for three minutes due to a prayer break.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for one hour and 14 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the proceedings for one hour and 22 minutes. The rest of the proceedings (38 minutes) were chaired by a Member of Panel of Chairpersons.
- The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for 20 minutes.
- Forty-eight lawmakers (29%) were present at start and 50 (30%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F and PTI were present.
- Five minority members also attended the sitting.
- Three members applied for leave.
Output
- Tabled by a PML-F lawmaker, the House passed the Sindh Minorities Rights Commission Bill, 2015 following presentation of standing committee report.
- Tabled by MQM lawmaker, the House referred the Barret Hodgson International University at Karachi (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to the relevant standing committee.
- Two other Private Members Bills – The Malir Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and The Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill, 2015 – were not taken up by the House.
- Tabled by a PTI lawmaker, the House unanimously adopted a resolution urging the government to take appropriate action to include Holy Quran as part of the education curriculum.
- Tabled by a PML-N lawmaker, the House passed a resolution seeking ban on black stone.
- The House also adopted a resolution to pay tributes to “Shaheed-e-Islam” Peer Syed Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi. It was tabled by a PML-F lawmaker.
- Two more resolutions appearing on the ‘Orders of the Day’ were not taken up due to the mover’s absence.
- The House left 20 motions for amendments to the Rules of Procedure unaddressed.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Three out of five Starred Questions appearing on the agenda were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministers. The lawmakers also asked 19 Supplementary Questions.
- The House rejected an Adjournment Motion as well as a Privilege Motion, sponsored by a PTI lawmaker, after being opposed by the government.
- Five Private Motions on various issues that appeared on the agenda were not taken up by the House.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of lawmakers was not available on website of the Assembly.
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.