ISLAMABAD, November 24, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh passed the Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill, 2015 on supplementary agenda and witnessed introduction of three treasury bills on Thursday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during seventh sitting of the 28^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and two minutes.
• The sitting started at 1100 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The proceedings were suspended for three minutes due to a prayer break.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker also attended the proceedings.
• The Chief Minister attended the sitting for 29 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition was absent.
• Forty-seven lawmakers (28%) were present at start and 65 (39%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F and PTI were present.
• Five minority members also attended the sitting.
• Thirteen members applied for leave.

Output

• Tabled by the Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Minority Affairs on behalf of PML-F lawmaker, the House passed the Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill, 2015.
• Introduced by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House referred the Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control) (Sindh Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Sindh Workers Welfare Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Sindh Employees Social Security (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to relevant standing committees.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Five Starred Questions were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministers. The lawmakers also asked 26 Supplementary Questions.
• The Speaker rejected the Adjournment Motion (AM) of a PTI lawmaker regarding the presence of ghost hospitals and health facilities in the province.
• The House took up four out of five Call Attention Notices (CANs) on various issues of public importance.
• The House elected two PPPP lawmakers – Dr. Shajeela Laghari and Faraz Dero – for their representation in Board of Sindh Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (STEVTA).

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Attendance of lawmakers was not available on website of the Assembly.

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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.