ISLAMABAD, January 02, 2012: The Sindh Assembly met for three hours and 17 minutes on Monday, its seventh sitting of the ongoing session. Low attendance of Members was observed, with only 21 Members present at the start of the sitting and 68 at the end. The Quorum was visibly lacking at various stages, however, this was not pointed out by any Legislator. The House passed the Sindh Motion Pictures Bill, 2011, and adopted a Resolution paying tribute to former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Out of the 11 questions listed for the Question Hour, only six were put up and responded to by relevant ministries. Thirty-seven supplementary questions were raised during the sitting. The Parliamentary Leaders of MQM, ANP and PMLF attended the sitting.
The following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Sindh Assembly met for three hours and 17 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1103 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours. The proceedings were delayed by 63 minutes.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and 45 minutes, while a Member of Panel of Chairpersons was in the chair for the remaining time. The Deputy Speaker was also present.
- The Chief Minister attended the proceedings for an hour and 10 minutes.
- The Parliamentary Leaders of MQM, ANP and PMLF attended the sitting, while leaders of the PML (forward block), PPPP, NPP and PML were absent.
- Twenty-one Members (13% of the total Membership) were present at the start, while 49 (30%) when the sitting was adjourned. A maximum of 68 Members (41%) were present at one point of the sitting.
- Three minority Members were present during the sitting.
- Three Members applied for leave to be absent.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Out of the 11 questions listed for the Question Hour, only six were put up and responded to by the relevant ministries.
- Thirty-seven supplementary questions were raised during the sitting.
Output
- The Sindh Motion Pictures Bill, 2011 was unanimously passed by the House, while the Establishment of the office of the Ombudsman for the province of Sindh (Amendment) Bill, 2011 was introduced. The Sindh Sales Tax on Services (Amendment) Bill, 2011 was deferred.
- The House debated the Resolution paying tribute to former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The Resolution was adopted after discussions.
Order and Institutionalization
- No Points of Order were raised during the sitting.
- There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts during the sitting.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
- Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
- The Quorum was visibly lacking at various stages during the sitting. However, lack of Quorum was not pointed out by any Member.
The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN
