ISLAMABAD, January 8, 2020: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh passed three government bills on Wednesday skipping their mandatory reference to the standing committees while the opposition protested against the hasty passage of these bills, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are the key observations of the House proceedings during first sitting of the seventh session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour and 25 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1505 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Leader of the House attended the proceedings for an hour and five minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 57 MPAs (34%) were present at the outset and 51 (31%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, MMAP and TLP attended the proceedings.
• Seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs introduced the Establishment of the Office of the Ombudsman for the Province of Sindh (Amendment) Bill, 2020, the Shaheed Allah Buksh Soomro University of Art, Design and Heritages Jamshoro Bill, 2020 and the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2020. The House immediately proceeded to the consideration and passage of the bills without their reference to the standing committees.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Minister for Livestock and Fisheries Department responded to four starred questions while the lawmakers asked 26 supplementary questions as well.
• An Adjournment Motion seeking discussion on the proposed increase in gas tariff remained unaddressed due to the mover’s absence.
• The Chief Minister gave a policy statement on gas load-shedding in the province. He spoke for ten minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• A PTI and PPPP lawmaker protested for two minutes against being disallowed to speak during the debate on the legislative business.
• The entire opposition staged a walkout at 1614 hours against the consideration of the Establishment of the Office of the Ombudsman for the Province of Sindh (Amendment) Bill, 2020 without addressing their concerns. The protesting lawmakers did not return to the proceedings until the adjournment of the sitting.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on January 22, 2020 (Wednesday) at 1400 hours.

Transparency

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

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