ISLAMABAD, November 11, 2014: The Sindh Assembly adopted a resolution urging the provincial government to form a multi-party committee to probe the causes of drought at Thar resulting the loss of lives during the 7^th sitting of 15^th session on Tuesday, says Free and Fair Election Network.

Tabled by the Leader of the Opposition, the House debated the alleged delay in relief measures during drought at Thar and loss of several lives. The debate participated by 17 lawmakers including the mover continued for three hours and three minutes.

Low attendance persisted as 21 members (13 % of the total membership) were present at the outset and 50 (30%) at the adjournment of the sitting while a maximum of 88 members (53%) were observed at one point of the sitting.

The Chief Minister did not attend the proceedings while the Leader of the Opposition along with the parliamentary leaders of PPPP and PML-F attended the sitting. The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker co-chaired the sitting.

The MQM members staged a protest when the Chair refused to discuss the rejection of an MQM sponsored privilege motion by the Speaker.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings

• The Sindh Assembly met for five hours and 44 minutes observing a three-minute break for prayer call.
• The sitting witnessed a delay of 52 minutes by starting at 1052 hours against the schedule start time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for an hour while the remaining time, four hours and 44 minutes, was presided over by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Chief Minister was not present while the Leader of the Opposition attended four hours and 35 minutes of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP and PML-F attended the sitting.
• Twenty-one (13% of the total membership) members were present at the start and 50 (30%) at the end of the sitting while a maximum of 88 members (53%) were observed at one point of the sitting.
• Four minority members were present in the sitting.
• Three members applied for leave.

 Output

• The Sindh Assembly adopted a resolution urging the provincial government to form a multi-party committee to probe the causes of drought at Thar which resulted loss of several lives. Seventeen members including the mover spoke on the resolution for three hours and three minutes.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The assembly took up all four starred questions on the agenda addressed to the Works and Services and Rural Development Department. Additionally, members asked 23 supplementary questions to get further clarity on their questions.
•  An adjournment motion, submitted by a PML-F member, to discuss the issue of death of people due to the use of poisonous wine, was rejected by the Chair for being out of order.

Order and Institutionalization

• A three-minute protest was staged by MQM members when the Chair refused to discuss the rejection of an MQM sponsored privilege motion by the Speaker.
• MPAs spoke on 12 points of order consuming 24 minutes of the proceedings.

Transparency

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

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 The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN.