ISLAMABAD, March 06, 2013: Starting an hour and 42 minutes late, the Sindh Assembly adopted three resolutions in the 15^th sitting of the 40^th session condemning the Abbas Town bomb blast, and offering condolences for deceased MPA.

The sitting was marked by low attendance as only 45 members were present at the start and 62 were there adjournment. Additionally, the Chief Minister and the parliamentary leaders of PMLF, PMLQ and ANP did not attend the sitting.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and 18 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1142 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours, witnessing a delay of an hour and 42 minutes.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting
• The Chief Minister did not attend the session while the Leader of the Opposition was present.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, NPP and PMLQ (FB) were present whereas those of PMLF, PMLQ and ANP were absent.
• Forty-five members (27%) were present at the start while 62 (37%) were there when the sitting was adjourned. A maximum of 79 members (47%) were observed at one point of the sitting.
• Three minority members attended the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Question Hour did not held.

Output

• The House adopted three resolutions. Two of these condemned the Abbas Town incident and expressed deep grief over the incident while the third was a condolence resolution to pay tribute to a deceased MPA.
  

Order and Institutionalization

• The MQM members staged a three-minute walkout over remarks of a PPPP minister about Abbas Town tragedy.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day\’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• The Members’ attendance was recorded and then made public.

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