ISLAMABAD, April 24, 2018: The Sindh Assembly left the private members agenda unaddressed on Tuesday and passed an out-of-turn resolution demanding reduction in National Identity Card’s (NIC) fees, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 11^th sitting of the 39^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Sindh Assembly met for an hour and 47 minutes; however, the proceedings remained suspended for three minutes due to Azaan break.
•  The sitting started at 1215 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 32 (18%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 51 (30%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F, PML-N and PTI attended the sitting.
• As many as five minority lawmakers were also present.
• None of the lawmakers applied for leave of absence.

Output

• Moved by a formerly MQM lawmaker who has defected to PPPP, the House adopted a supplementary resolution recommending the Provincial Government of Sindh to approach the Federal Government for reduction in National Identity Card’s (NIC) charges.
• The House did not address the private members’ bills, resolutions and amendments to the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up three out of four Starred Questions during the Question Hour. The lawmakers asked 15 supplementary questions as well.
• The Chair rejected a PTI lawmaker’s Adjournment Motion regarding shortage of water in Karachi.
• The House did not take up private motions on matters of public importance.

Order and Institutionalization

• A lawmaker raised a Point of Order consuming five minutes of the proceedings.
• Entire opposition staged a two-minute protest against consideration of the out-of-agenda resolution.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Friday, April 27, 2018 at 1500 hours.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

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This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation, a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.