ISLAMABAD, November 21, 2017: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh unanimously adopted five private member’s resolutions while referring three bills to the standing committees on Tuesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 13^th sitting of the 36^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and 35 minutes while the proceedings remained suspended for three minutes due to Azaan.
• The sitting started at 1125 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 55 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the sitting.
• The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 55 minutes.
• As many as 20 (12%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 40 (24%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F and PTI attended the sitting.
• Five minority members were also present.

Output

• The House unanimously adopted five private members’ resolution recommending the government to grant 90-day maternity leave to working women, encourage establishment of industries, ensure installation of gates at railway-crossings, take steps against unannounced electricity and gas load-shedding in Sukkur and establish Trade Zones in all major cities of Sindh. As many as 17 lawmakers participated in the debates on these resolutions consuming 52 minutes of the proceedings.
• The House referred the Pakistan University, Karachi Bill, 2017, the University of Art and Culture, Jamshoro Bill, 2017 and the Sindh Prohibition on Manufacture, Promotion and Sale of Gutka and Mainpuri Bill, 2017 to the relevant standing committees.
• The House did not take up the proposed amendments in the Rules of Procedure of The Provincial Assembly of Sindh.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as three out of five starred questions were responded to by the relevant ministers during the Question Hour. The lawmakers asked 24 supplementary questions as well.
• The Chair rejected a PTI lawmaker’s Adjournment Motion regarding merger of Sindh Bank and Summit Bank.
• The House did not take up the private motions for discussion.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers did not raise any Point of Order.

Transparency

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

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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.