ISLAMABAD, February 13, 2012: Starting two hours and five minutes behind schedule, the first sitting of the Sindh Assembly’s 33^rd session met for two hours, witnessing relatively better attendance of Members – 96 were present at the outset and 80 at the end.

The House adopted a Resolution calling on the federal government to publish the report regarding assassination of former Prime Minister.

All the questions listed on the agenda were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministers.

Members raised nine Points of Order which consumed 18 minutes of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.

The Chief Minister attended the sitting for 30 minutes.

The following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Sindh Assembly met for two hours.
• The sitting started at 1205 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours. The proceedings were delayed by two hours and five minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting. The Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Chief Minister attended the sitting for 30 minutes.
• All the parliamentary leaders were present.
• Ninety-six Members (58% of the total Membership) were present at the start while 80 (48%) were there when the sitting was adjourned. A maximum of 120 members were present at any point of the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• All seven questions listed for the Question Hour were taken up and responded to by the relevant minister.

Output

• A Resolution calling on the federal government to publish the report regarding assassination of former Prime Minister was unanimously adopted.
• Two ordinances – the Land Acquisition (Sindh Amendment) Ordinance, 2012 and the Establishment of the Office of the Ombudsman for the Province of Sindh (Amendment) Ordinance, 2012 – were introduced.

Order and Institutionalization

• Nine Points of Order were raised that consumed 18 minutes.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts during the sitting.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN