Sindh Assembly Passes Two Bills, Takes up Five CANs

ISLAMABAD, March 2, 2018: The Sindh Assembly passed two government bills and took up five Calling Attention Notices (CANs) on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during sixth sitting of the 38th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and 25 minutes.
  •  The sitting started at 1120 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
  • The Deputy Speaker also attended the sitting.
  • The Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader did not attend the sitting.
  • As many as 25 (15%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 39 (23%) at the adjournment of sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PTI and PML-F attended the sitting.
  • Six minority lawmakers were also present.

Output

  • Moved by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House passed two government bills including the Government College University Hyderabad bill, 2018 and the Sindh Public Private Partnership (Amendment) Bill, 2018.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The Chair rejected an Adjournment Motion of PML-F lawmaker.
  • The House took up all five Starred Questions for answers during the proceedings. In addition, lawmakers asked 15 supplementary questions.
  • The House addressed all five Calling Attention Notices (CANs) which were about establishing Environment Protection Council, delay in completion of road from Malir Halt to Kala Board Karachi, poor condition of cleanliness in District Korangi, encroached Inn at  Faizabad Colony District Khairpur and use of a park area in Karachi for restaurant.

 Order and Institutionalization

  • A PML-F lawmaker staged a two-minute protest during the proceedings against the Chair’s decision to reject her Adjournment Motion. She along with PTI lawmaker walked out of the House on the same issue at 1314 hours and did not return till adjournment of the sitting. However PTI legislator came back to attend the proceedings of the House after six minutes.
  • The House was adjourned to meet again on Monday, March 5, 2018 at 1000 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.

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