ISLAMABAD, May 17, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh was adjourned on Friday without addressing most of the agenda amid the Opposition’s protest, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 48^th sitting of the fourth session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour and 47 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1540 hours against the scheduled time of 1430 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire proceedings.
• As many as 86 lawmakers (51%) were present at outset and 108 (64%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, TLP, PTI, MMAP and MQMP attended the sitting.
• As many as eight out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output                                                                         

• Moved by the Minister for Law, the House passed the Sindh Prisons and Correctional Facilities Bill, 2019 after presentation of report on it by the Select Committee.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Minister for Mines and Minerals Development answered three out of four starred questions while one question was not taken up due to absence of the mover. In addition, the lawmaker asked nine supplementary questions.
• The Chair deferred a Call Attention Notice (CAN) due to the absence of the relevant minister which was about decrease in toll tax being charged from passengers during travel from Karachi to Thatta.
• Four CANs and an adjournment motion were not addressed due to the protest of the Opposition lawmakers who sponsored these interventions.
• The House referred a Privilege Motion of an MMAP lawmaker to the concerned committee.

Order and Institutionalization

• The House witnessed exchange of barbs and fists between treasury and opposition lawmakers when the latter were disallowed by the Chair to debate HIV-positive cases in Sindh. Earlier, the lawmakers belonging to MQMP, PTI and GDA protested during the proceedings for 57 minutes on the same issue.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on May 18, 2019 (Saturday) at 1430 hours.

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