ISLAMABAD, March 20: Starting an hour and 30 minutes behind schedule, the 12th sitting of Sindh Assembly’s 34th session, which met for three hours and 13 minutes on Tuesday, unanimously passed two resolutions.
The Quorum, visibly lacking at various stages during the sitting, was not pointed out by any of the Member.
The first Resolution was to pay tribute to founder of the Hur Movement, Pir Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi, on his 69th death anniversary. The other was about welcoming the fifth year of the Parliament and congratulating the President.
Five Questions out of 28 on the Agenda were taken up, as 27 Supplementary Questions were also asked. The relevant minister was present in the House.
The following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Sindh Assembly met for three hours and 13 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1130 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours. The proceedings were delayed by an hour and 30 minutes.
- The Speaker chaired the sitting.
- The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of the PML (F-B), PPP, PML, PMLF, and ANP were present while those of MQM and NPP did not attend the sitting.
- Fifty-eight (35% of 165) Members were present at the start while 47 (28%) were there when the sitting was adjourned.
- Five minority Members were present during the proceedings.
- One Member applied for leave to be absent.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Five Questions out of 28 on the Agenda were taken up, as 27 Supplementary Questions were also asked. The relevant minister was present in the House.
- An Adjournment Motion about regularization of staff of the National Programme for Improvement of Watercourses (NPIW) was debated for 25 minutes.
Output
- No Bills appeared on the agenda.
- Two Resolutions were adopted by the House. The first Resolution was to pay tribute to founder of the Hur Movement, Pir Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi, on his 69th death anniversary. The other was about welcoming the fifth year of the Parliament and congratulating the President.
Order and Institutionalization
- Seven Points of Order consumed 11 minutes of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
- There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
- Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
- The Quorum, visibly lacking at various stages during the sitting, was not pointed out by any of the Member.
The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN