ISLAMABAD, August 7, 2015: The first sitting of the Sindh Assembly’s 21st session on Friday was marked by unanimous adoption of a resolution against the controversial statements by MQM Chief regarding the national defense and security institutions, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

A joint resolution was tabled by members of PTI, PML-N and PML-F against MQM’s party chief for his statements against Army, Sindh Rangers and disintegration of Sindh, which was unanimously adopted by the House.

The sitting started an hour and 18 minutes behind the schedule with 31 (18%) lawmakers present at the start and 91 (54%) at the time of adjournment. The quorum was visibly lacking at various stages, however, it was not pointed out by any of the lawmakers.

The Chief Minister did not attend the session while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 120 minutes. The Speaker presided over the entire sitting which lasted two hours and 20 minutes.

The House passed the Sindh Board of Technical Education (Amendment) Bill 2015 while three other Bills introduced in the House were the Sindh Zakat and Ushr (Amendment) Bill 2015, the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University Larkana (Amendment) Bill 2015 and the Malir University of Science and Technology Karachi Bill 2015.

The Speaker also announced the assent of Sindh Governor to nine Bills.

Following are some key observations of the assembly business:

Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings:

• The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and 20 minutes
• The sitting started at 1118 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting
• The Opposition Leader was present for 120 minutes
• 31 members (18%) were present at the start and 91 (54%) at the time of adjournment
• A maximum of 96 members (57%) were present at one point of the sitting
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-N, PTI and PML-F were present
• Five out of nine minority members attended the sitting
• Six members applied for leave

 Output

•  A joint resolution was tabled by members of PTI, PML-N and PML-F against MQM’s party chief for his statements against Army, Sindh Rangers and disintegration of Sindh, which was unanimously adopted by the House.
• The House passed the Sindh Board of Technical Education (Amendment) Bill 2015 while three other Bills introduced in the House were the Sindh Zakat and Ushr (Amendment) Bill 2015, the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University Larkana (Amendment) Bill 2015 and the Malir University of Science and Technology Karachi Bill 2015.

 Representation and Responsiveness

•  All the six questions appearing on the agenda were taken up and responded by the relevant departments. In addition, the lawmakers raised 19 supplementary questions.
• The House took an Adjournment Motion about load-shedding at water pumping stations in Karachi. However, it was termed `out of order’ after being opposed by Minister for Local Government.
• The House took up two CANs and both were responded by relevant ministers. First CAN was regarding the number of dikes declared sensitive in the province while the other was about setting the criteria to fix the private schools’ fees.

 Order and Institutionalization

• Four Points of Order (POs) consumed four minutes of the sitting
• MQM members protested within the House for four minutes against the adopted resolution presented by PML-N, PML-F and PTI lawmakers.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the members, observers and public.
• Information on members’ attendance was available to the observers and public.

To download the factsheet, click here

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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.