ISLAMABAD, May 8, 2017: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh transacted most of its business on Monday amid protest and walkouts by opposition lawmakers against the Chair, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during 12th sitting of 32nd session:
Members’ Participation
- The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and eight minutes.
- The sitting started at 1130 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- The sitting remained suspended on two counts – three minutes for Azaan break and 17 minutes for the opposition’s protest.
- The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting as the Speaker was not present.
- The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) was not present while the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 17 minutes.
- Thirty-five lawmakers (21%) were present at the outset and 52 (32%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F and PTI attended the proceedings.
- Five minority members were present.
- Five members applied for leave.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up four out of five Starred Questions, which got response from the relevant minister. The lawmakers asked 29 Supplementary Questions.
- Two ministers made statements on as many Call Attention Notices (CANs). The remaining three CANs appearing on the agenda were not taken up by the House.
- A PTI lawmaker withdrew his Adjournment Motion regarding leaking of examination papers.
- The House did not hold discussion on the Budget Execution Report for FY 2016-17.
Order and Institutionalization
- A lawmaker spoke on a Point of Order consuming two minutes of the proceedings.
- MQM lawmaker staged a five-minute walk out for not being allowed to raise a Point of Order.
- The opposition lawmakers protested for two minutes over the remarks of the Deputy Speaker about female lawmakers.
- The opposition lawmakers staged another protest against the Chair who did not allow a MQM lawmaker to move his Call Attention Notice. The protest caused suspension of proceedings for 17 minutes. Later, the House was adjourned immediately after the resumption of proceedings.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.
This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation, a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.