ISLAMABAD, January 24, 2017: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh adopted five resolutions and witnessed introduction of one bill during Private Members’ Day, while the remaining business on agenda remained unaddressed on Tuesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are key observations of proceedings during fifth sitting of 29^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Sindh Assembly met for three hours and 16 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1130 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The proceedings remained suspended for three minutes due to prayers break.
• The Speaker was not present as he is performing duties as acting Governor of Sindh.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the sitting for two hours and 45 minutes, while the rest of proceedings were chaired by a Member of Panel of Chairpersons.
• The Chief Minister attended the sitting for an hour and 52 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for 53 minutes.
• Thirty-eight lawmakers (23%) were present at the start and 36 (21%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM and PTI were present.
• Three minority members also attended the sitting.
• Five members applied for leave.

Output

• The House unanimously adopted five resolutions, tabled by MQM (3), PTI and PPPP (one each). The adopted resolutions were about launching awareness campaigns on registration of women in the forthcoming census, controlling illegal manufacture, sale, purchase and smuggling of weapons, issuing orders for installation of fare meters in rickshaws and taxis in the province, seeking actions against child begging, child labour and stopping sea intrusion along Sindh coastline.
• A PPPP lawmaker introduced the Etihad University Bill, 2017, while a motion to introduce the Malir Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was rejected by the Chair.
• The House left a standing committee report, five private motions, and 23 motions to amend the Assembly Rules, unaddressed.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Three out of 16 Starred Questions were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministers. The lawmakers also asked 22 Supplementary Questions.

Order and Institutionalization

• An MQM female lawmaker staged a token protest against the Chair for not allowing her to table a Private Member’s Bill.
• The lawmakers belonging to MQM protested for two minutes against the PTI lawmaker for highlighting the issue of recovery of weapons from sector and unit offices of MQM.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Attendance of lawmakers was not available on website of the Assembly.

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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.