ISLAMABAD, April 17 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh took up most of its business appearing on the Orders of the Day on Wednesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daly Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 36th sitting of the fourth session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for two hours and 55 minutes. However, the proceedings remained suspended for three minutes due to call for prayer.
- The sitting started at 1430 hours against the scheduled time of 1300 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and five minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the sitting.
- The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for two hours and four minutes.
- As many as 47 lawmakers (28%) were present at the commencement and 30 (18%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, TLP, PTI and MMAP attended the sitting.
- As many as seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output
- Moved by a PPPP lawmaker, the House unanimously adopted a supplementary resolution to acknowledge the work of provincial government after successful production of electricity from Thar Coal Power Project.
- The Speaker announced Governor’s assent on the Sindh Injured Persons Compulsory Medical Treatment (Amal Umer) Bill, 2019.
- The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs presented three quarterly budget execution reports for the year 2018.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Minister for Auqaf, Zakat and Ushr answered all seven starred questions. In addition, the lawmakers asked 30 supplementary questions.
- The House deferred discussion on an Adjournment Motion regarding the alleged decision to roll back the 18th Constitutional Amendment by the Federal Government.
- The Ministers responded to all five Call Attention Notices (CANs) appearing on the agenda. The responded CANs were about waste management in Karachi, discovery of valuable minerals and stones in the province, prevailing increase in inflation, merger of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) and Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KW&SB) and appointment of Assistant Attorney General.
Order and Institutionalization
- A lawmaker belonging to GDA withdrew his privilege motion related to holding pre-budget session of the Assembly as per the Rules of the House.
- A lawmaker belonging to GDA staged on-floor protest for two minutes against the attitude of the Speaker for not allowing him to speak on a Calling Attention Notice.
- The lawmakers belonging to MQMP, GDA and PTI staged protest for seven minutes against the Chair for not allowing them to speak on a Point of Order. Later, they walked out at 1639 hours and did not return until adjournment of the sitting.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on April 18, 2019 (Thursday) at 1400 hours.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.
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