ISLAMABAD, September 28, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh passed The Sindh Arms (Amendment) Bill, 2016, and adopted a resolution to pay tributes to the “martyrs of Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD)” on Wednesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

The House also observed one-minute silence on the demise of former provincial lawmaker, Michael Javed.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during 6^th sitting of the 27^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Sindh Assembly met for three hours and 10 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1039 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The proceedings were suspended for three minutes due to the prayer break.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 55 minutes while the remaining proceedings were chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Chief Minister attended the sitting for 49 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition was absent.
• Thirty-eight lawmakers (23%) were present at the start and 39 (23%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F, PML-N and PTI were present.
• Five minority members also attended the sitting.
• Four members applied for leave.

Output

• Tabled by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House passed the Sindh Arms (Amendment) Bill, 2016, following presentation of a report by the Chairman, Standing Committee on Home.
• The House adopted a resolution to pay tributes to the martyrs of Movement for Restoration of Democracy (MRD) in 1983 and 1986. The resolution was tabled by a PPPP lawmaker.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Six out of seven Starred Questions appearing on the agenda were taken up and responded to by the government. The lawmakers also asked 28 Supplementary Questions.
• All five Calling Attention Notices (CANs) were taken up and responded to by the relevant minister.
• An Adjournment Motion sponsored by a PTI lawmaker regarding illegal/unlicensed weapons in the province was not taken up due to the absence of mover.
• A PPPP lawmaker raised a matter of public importance on the high prices of rice and subsidy given to it, which was responded to by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmaker spoke on one Point of Order, consuming two minutes of the proceedings.
• A PTI lawmaker protested for four minutes against the Chair for not allowing him to raise a Point of Order. Later, the same member walked out of the House at 1233 hours on the same issue and did not come back till the adjournment of sitting.

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.