ISLAMABAD, March 10, 2017: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh witnessed the passage of the Sindh Livestock Breeding Bill, 2016 and opposition’s protest over ignoring its agenda items, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Friday.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during fifth sitting of the 30th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and two minutes.
- The sitting started at 1058 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting as the Speaker was not present.
- The Chief Minister attended the proceedings for 29 minutes.
- The Opposition Leader did not attend the proceedings.
- Nineteen lawmakers (11%) were present at the start and 26 (16%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F and PTI were present.
- Seven minority members also attended the sitting.
- Thirteen members applied for leave.
Output
- Tabled by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House passed the Sindh Livestock Breeding Bill, 2016.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Four out of eight Starred Questions were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministers. The lawmakers also asked 23 Supplementary Questions.
- The House took up five Call Attention Notices (CANs) on various issues of public importance.
Order and Institutionalization
- A lawmaker spoke on a Point of Order consuming five minutes of the proceedings.
- An MQM lawmaker staged a token walkout for three minutes over not being allowed to speak on a Point of Order.
- The Opposition lawmakers walked out of the House at 1247 hours over ignoring their agenda items in ‘Orders of the Day’. They did not return back to the House till the adjournment of sitting.
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.