ISLAMABAD, January 18, 2021: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh could not address most of its agenda on Monday due to the protest of treasury and opposition lawmakers in the House, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during ninth sitting of 17^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Assembly met for an hour and 35 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1412 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 15 minutes while a Member of Panel of Chairpersons chaired the remaining sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker was absent.
• The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• Twenty-two legislators (13%) were present at the outset and 43 (26%) at the end of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of TLP, MMAP and PPPP attended the proceedings.
• Seven out of nine minority lawmakers were present.                                          

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up four out of 15 starred questions. In addition, the lawmakers asked 21 supplementary questions.
• Minister for Parliamentary Affairs responded to a Call Attention Notice (CAN) regarding action against government servants involved in voluntarily returns and plea bargain. The CAN was raised by PTI lawmaker.
• The House deferred a CAN regarding procurement of wheat due to absence of mover.
• The House did not consider four CANs and an adjourned motion while debate on increase in petroleum prices was not held.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers belonging to PPPP and PTI chanted slogans and exchanged unwarranted d remarks against each other’s leadership for seven minutes. Their protest disrupted the proceedings and the Chair announced to adjourn the House to meet again on January 25, 2021 (Monday) at 1400 hours.

 Transparency

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

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