ISLAMABAD, May 18, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh’s fourth session was prorogued sine die on Saturday after passing a government bill on police reforms, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 49^th sitting of the fourth session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 24 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1521 hours against the scheduled time of 1430 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and 17 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the sitting.
• The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceeding for 14 minutes.
• As many as 58 lawmakers (35%) were present at outset and 61 (36%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, TLP, PTI, MMAP and MQMP attended the sitting.
• As many as seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output                                                                         

• Moved by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House passed the Sindh (Repeal of the Police act, 1861 and Revival of Police Order, 2002) Bill, 2019 after presentation of the committee report on the bill.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House did not take up an Adjournment Motion (AM) of PTI lawmaker due to his absence.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers belonging to MQMP, PTI, GDA protested during the proceedings for 10 minutes against the consideration of the Sindh (Repeal of the Police Act, 1861 and Revival of Police Order, 2002) Bill, 2019. They walked out from the proceedings at 1555 hours and came back after 15 minutes, however, MQMP lawmakers did not return to the proceedings.
• A matter of public importance regarding outbreak of HIV Aids cases in Sindh was responded to by the Minister for Health. His statement consumed 44 minutes of the proceedings.

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