ISLAMABAD, September 16, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh adopted two resolutions while the remaining agenda was not taken due to Opposition’s protest on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during second sitting of the sixth session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for two hours and 40 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1525 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
- The Leaders of the House attended the proceedings for two hours and 28 minutes.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 46 minutes.
- As many as 39 MPAs (23%) were present at outset and 89 (53%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The Parliamentary Leaders of MMAP, GDA, PPPP and TLP attended the proceedings.
- Seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the proceedings.
Output
- Moved by a PPPP lawmaker, the House unanimously adopted a resolution to pay homage to PPPP deceased MPA Ghulam Shah Jilani. As many as 13 lawmakers spoke on it for 25 minutes.
- Moved by another PPPP lawmaker, the House adopted another resolution against the intentions of the Federal government to take administrative control of Karachi under its powers given in the Article 149 of the constitution. As many as five lawmakers debated the resolution for 46 minutes.
- The House did not take up the Sindh Women Agricultural Workers Bill, 2019.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Minister for Labour department responded to four out of five starred questions while the lawmakers asked 18 supplementary questions, as well.
- The House did not consider four Calling Attention Notices, an Adjournment Motion due to protest by opposition.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers belonging to PPPP protested on the floor of the House for three minutes against the attitude of the Speaker for giving floor to a GDA lawmaker.
- The entire opposition protested for two minutes against the attitude of the Speaker for not allowing them to speak on a resolution.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on September 17, 2019 (Tuesday) 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