Sindh Assembly Skips Most of Private Members’ Business

ISLAMABAD, September 24, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh on Tuesday left most of the Private Members’ agenda unaddressed and adopted a resolution for further protection to minorities and their worship places in the province, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during sixth sitting of the 6th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The House met for an hour and 40 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1535 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
  •  The Deputy Speaker remained present during the proceedings.
  • The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting.
  • The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for an hour and 40 minutes.
  • As many as 58 MPAs (35%) were present at the outset and 56 (33%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, GDA, TLP and MMAP attended the proceedings.
  • As many as seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

  • The MQMP lawmaker introduced the Sindh Education Standards and Curriculum (Amendment) Bill, 2018.
  • Moved by GDA lawmaker, the House unanimously adopted a resolution urging the government for further protection and safety to monitories and their worship places in the province.
  • The House did not consider three Private Members’ bills, four resolutions, five private motions, a report of the standing committee, a Privilege Motion and 28 notices to amend the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The Minister for Agriculture Department responded to three starred questions while the lawmakers asked 16 supplementary questions as well.
  • Sponsored by a MMAP lawmaker, the Chair admitted an adjournment motion for debate which was regarding issues related to Steel mill employees. The discussion will be held on September 27, 2019 (Friday) for two hours.

Order and Institutionalization

  • The House was adjourned to meet again on September 27, 2019 (Friday) at 1400 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 Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted