ISLAMABAD, September 29, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh passed two government bills and introduced the Sindh Prohibition of Sheesha Smoking Bill, 2016 on Thursday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during 7th sitting of the 27th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Sindh Assembly met for three hours and 14 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1024 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 an hour and 54 minutes while the remaining proceedings were chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
- The Chief Minister attended the sitting for an hour and 54 minutes.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for an hour and two minutes.
- Thirty-two lawmakers (19%) were present at the start and 65 (39%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F, PML-N and PTI were present.
- Five minority members also attended the sitting.
- Three members applied for leave.
Output
- The House passed two government bills. The Karachi Institute of Technology and Entrepreneurship Bill, 2015 was tabled by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs while the Sindh Mass Transit Authority Bill, 2014 was laid by the Minister for Transport. Standing Committees’ reports on these bills were also presented in the House.
- The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs introduced the Sindh Prohibition of Sheesha Smoking Bill, 2016.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Four out of six Starred Questions appearing on the agenda were taken up and responded to by the government. The lawmakers also asked 20 Supplementary Questions.
- Four Calling Attention Notices (CANs) were taken up and responded to by the relevant minister while one notice was dropped due to the absence of its mover.
- An Adjournment Motion sponsored by a MQM lawmaker about draining out of rain water from various towns of Latifabad was rejected after having discussion on it for 17 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on two Points of Order consuming five minutes of the proceedings.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The attendance of lawmakers was available to 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.