ISLAMABAD, March 15, 2013: The Sindh Assembly passed nine bills – six government and three private – before the session is prorogued on Friday after meeting for 21 sittings. The House also adopted a resolution to set up a university at Tando Muhammad Khan.

The Sindh Industrial Relations Bill 2013; the Sindh Provincial Assembly (Members) Privileges (Amendment) Bill 2013; the Sindh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill 2008; the Sindh Special Assistants (Appointment, Powers, Functions, Salaries, Allowances and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill 2008; the Sindh Assembly Members (Salaries and Allowances) (Amendment) Bill 2009; and the Sindh Assembly Speaker\’s and Deputy Speaker\’s (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill 2009 were the government bills.

The private bills were the Sindh Protection of Communal Properties of Minorities Bill 2012; the Sindh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges) (Amendment) Act 2013; and the Sindh Assembly Speaker’s and Deputy Speaker’s (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges) (Amendment) Act 2013.

The PMLF members along with an NPP member protested and staged walkout twice over the issue that a PMLF member was not allowed to present a resolution against alleged selling out of Sindh Islands.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Sindh Assembly met for four hours and 12 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1113 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours, witnessing a delay of an hour and 13 minutes.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The Chief Minister attended the sitting for an hour and 35 minutes whereas the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for three hours and 24 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PMLF, and NPP were present whereas those of ANP, PMLQ, and PMLQ (F-B) were absent.
• Only eight members were present at the outset, while 79 were there at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 94 members were present at one point of sitting.
• Five minority members attended the sitting.
• No member applied for leave.
  

Representation and Responsiveness

• Nine starred questions appeared on the agenda, all of which were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministries. Additionally, 26 supplementary questions were asked.
• A PPPP minority member raised a privilege motion and spoke upon that for 15 minutes; but the Speaker disposed of the privilege motion.

Output

• The House passed nine bills – six government and three private. The government bills were: the Sindh Industrial Relations Bill 2013, the Sindh Provincial Assembly (Members) Privileges (Amendment) Bill 2013, the Sindh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill 2008, the Sindh Special Assistants (Appointment, Powers, Functions, Salaries, Allowances and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill 2008, the Sindh Assembly Members (Salaries and Allowances) (Amendment) Bill 2009, the Sindh Assembly Speaker\’s and Deputy Speaker\’s (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill 2009.
• The private bills were: the Sindh Protection of Communal Properties of Minorities Bill 2012; the Sindh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges) (Amendment) Act 2013; and the Sindh Assembly Speaker’s and Deputy Speaker’s (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges) (Amendment) Act 2013.
• The House unanimously adopted a resolution to set up a university – The Indus International University – at Tando Muhammad Khan.

Order and Institutionalization                                                                                              

• Five points of order consumed 10 minutes of the sitting time.
• The PMLF members along with an NPP member protested and staged walkout twice over the issue that a PMLF member was not allowed to present a resolution against alleged selling out of Sindh Islands. They first protested for five minutes and staged a token walkout and later, on another occasion, protested for 14 minutes and walked off the House at 1344 hours. They did not return to attend the remaining proceedings.

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