Sindh Assembly Transacts Entire Business

ISLAMABAD, February 1, 2017: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh transacted the entire business appearing on Orders of the Day, in the absence of Leader of the House and Opposition Leader on Wednesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during 11th sitting of the 29th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and three minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1033 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
  • The proceedings were suspended for three minutes due to Azzan.
  • The Speaker was not present as he is performing the duties of acting Governor of Sindh.
  • The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
  • The Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition did not attend the sitting.
  • Ten lawmakers (6%) were present at the start and 45 (27%) at the adjournment of sitting.
  • The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F and PTI were present.
  • Five minority members also attended the sitting.
  • Six members applied for leave.

Output

  • The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs presented three Audit Reports in the House.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • Four out of five Starred Questions were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministers. The lawmakers also asked 30 Supplementary Questions.
  • The House took up five Call Attention Notices (CANs) on various issues of public importance.
  • The lawmakers belonging to PTI and MQM raised two matters of public importance that were responded by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs.

Order and Institutionalization

  • A lawmaker belonging to MQM staged token protest against attitude of the Chair for not allowing him to speak on his Matter of Public Importance.

Transparency

  • ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
  • Attendance of lawmakers was not available on website of the Assembly.

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