ISLAMABAD, November 13, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh transacted entire business appearing on its Orders of the Day on Wednesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are the key observations of the House proceedings during 23rd sitting of the sixth session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for two hours and 49 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1525 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 20 minutes while rest of the proceedings was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
- The Leader of the House did not attend the proceedings.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for 58 minutes.
- As many as 36 MPAs (22%) were present at the outset and 65 (39%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, TLP and MMAP attended the proceedings.
- Seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output
- The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs introduced the Sindh Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Bill, 2019 which was referred to the concerned standing committee.
- Moved by the Minister for Health, the House passed two government bills namely the Sindh Institute of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the Sindh Reproductive Healthcare Rights Bill, 2019 after the presentation of standing committee reports on them.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Minister for Health responded to three out of eight starred questions while the lawmakers asked 22 supplementary questions as well.
- The Ministers concerned responded to four out of five Call Attention Notices (CANs) appearing on agenda. The responded CANs highlighted the issues related to maintaining water supply and sewerage services in Karachi, nonfunctional ventilators in Dr. Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital, Karachi, threats of spreading of Congo Crimean virus after the death of a patient carrying similar virus in a public hospital in Karachi and regulating the prices of edibles.
- The Chair rejected an Adjournment Motion of a PTI lawmaker regarding increase in cases of Gastroenteritis and Diarrhea in Karachi.
Order and Institutionalization
- Five lawmakers spoke on Points of Order for 17 minutes.
- A PTI lawmaker protested for five minutes against the unsatisfactory response of the Minister on his Call Attention Notice.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on November 14, 2019 (Thursday) at 1400 hours.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of the lawmakers was available to the media and observer.
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+