ISLAMABAD, May 21, 2021: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh adopted a resolution condemning Israeli atrocities against Palestinians and referred a bill regarding protection of journalists as well media practitioners to the relevant committee, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Friday.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during the first sitting of the 21st session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for three hours and five minutes.
• The sitting started at 02:50 pm against the scheduled time of 02:00 pm.
• The speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The deputy speaker was not present.
• The leader of the house (chief minister) was present while the opposition leader did not attend the sitting.
• Nineteen legislators (11 percent) were present at the outset and 50 (30 percent) at the end of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PTI, PPPP, TLP, MMAP, and MQMP attended the proceedings while the leader of GDA did not participate in the sitting.
• Five out of nine minority lawmakers were present.

Output                                             

• The House witnessed introduction of the Sindh Protection of Journalists and other Media Practitioners Bill, 2021 which was referred to the relevant standing committee for deliberation.
• The House adopted a joint resolution condemning Israeli atrocities against the people of Palestine. Seventeen lawmakers – PPPP (six), PTI (five), two each of MQMP and TLP, and one each of MMAP and GDA – spoke on it for two hours and 14 minutes.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House neither observed question hour nor considered an adjournment motion regarding adoption of 2017 census results by the Council of Common Interest.

Order and Institutionalization

• The House was adjourned to meet again on Monday, May 24, 2021 at 02:00 pm.

 Transparency

• ‘List of Business’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• The attendance of lawmakers was not available to the observers and media.

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 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