Sindh PA Skips Regular Agenda, Adopts a Supplementary Resolution

ISLAMABAD, November 27, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh skipped its regular business appearing on agenda and unanimously adopted a supplementary resolution to denounce desecration of Holy Quran in Norway, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daly Factsheet on Wednesday.

Following are the key observations of the House proceedings during 28th sitting of the sixth session:

Members’ Participation

  • The House met for two hours and 20 minutes, however, the proceedings remained suspended for five minutes due to incomplete quorum.
  • The sitting started at 1540 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
  • The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the proceedings.
  • As many as 43 MPAs (26%) were present at the outset and 41 (25%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, MQMP, GDA, TLP and MMAP attended the proceedings.
  • Seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

  • Jointly moved by PPPP, PTI, MMAP and TLP lawmakers, the House unanimously adopted a supplementary resolution to condemn desecration of Holy Quran in Norway. As many as eight lawmakers spoke on it for 47 minutes.
  • The House did not take up any of the agenda items which included six Call Attention Notices, an Adjournment Motion and two statutory reports.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The Ministers for Information and Archives Department responded to all four starred questions while the lawmakers asked 14 supplementary questions as well.

Order and Institutionalization

  • The proceedings remained suspended for five minutes due to lack of quorum pointed out by an MQM lawmaker.
  • The House was adjourned to meet again on November 28, 2019 (Thursday) at 1100 hours.

Transparency

  • ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
  • Attendance of the 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