ISLAMABAD, April 6, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh transacted its entire business appearing on the ‘Orders of the Day’ during the fourth sitting of its ongoing 24^th session on Wednesday, says Free and Fair Election Network.

Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and 22 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1109 hours against its scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for 94 minutes while the rest of the proceeding was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Chief Minister attended the sitting for 35 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• 56 (34%) lawmakers were present at outset and 49 (30%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of MQM, PML-F and PML-N were present.
• Seven minority members attended the sitting.

Output

• The Minister for Environment tabled replies received from the concerned departments having details about the actions taken on the resolutions passed by the House from 2013 to 2016 under Rule 135 of the Sindh Assembly.
• The Minister for Environment presented the report of the Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges about a privilege motion submitted by the Parliamentary Secretary on Technical Education & Vocational Training Authority.
• The Speaker announced the assent of Governor Sindh on two government bills including the Sindh Sales Tax on Services (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and the Sindh Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (Amendment) Bill, 2015.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The government orally responded to six out of seven starred questions appearing on the agenda. The lawmakers also asked 24 supplementary questions.
• A Privilege Motion submitted by PTI lawmaker about non-compliance on a previously adopted resolution was withdrawn over the assurance given to him by the government.
• An Adjournment Motion was dropped due to absence of its mover.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on 21 points of order consuming 23 minutes of the proceeding.
• A PTI member staged protest within the House for eight minutes over unsatisfactory answer to a question submitted by him. Later, the member walked out of the House for 20 minutes on the same issue.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers was available to observers and media.

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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.