ISLAMABAD, Dec 20,2011 : The Sindh Assembly met for three hours and 23 minutes during the third sitting of the ongoing session. Low attendance of Members was observed with only 17 Legislators present at the outset and 45 at the adjournment of the sitting. A Resolution regarding honour killing was taken up by the House. Thirteen Members spoke on the Motion for 13 minutes.
The Sindh Provincial Assembly (members) privileges (Amendment) Bill, 2011 was not taken up by the House. A total of 34 Points of Order consumed 47 minutes of the sitting time but none of them attracted the Chair’s formal ruling. Unless the Chair gives a formal ruling on a Point of Order, it does not contribute to any Assembly output. The Chief Minster attended the sitting briefly for 14 minutes. The parliamentary leaders of NPP, PMLF, PPPP, MQM, and PML (forward block) attended the proceedings.
Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Sindh Assembly met for three hours and 23 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1050 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours. The House proceedings were delayed by 50 minutes.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for 90 minutes, while the remaining time was presided over by a Member of Panel of Chairpersons. The Deputy Speaker was not present.
- The Chief Minster attended the sitting for 14 minutes.
- The Parliamentary Leaders of the NPP, PMLF, PPPP, MQM, and PML (forward block) attended the sitting, while the leader of the PML was absent.
- A total of 17 Members (10% of total Membership) were present at the start, while 45 (26%) were present when the sitting was adjourned.
- Three minority Members were present during the sitting.
- Five Members applied for leave to be absent.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Eight out of 11 Questions listed for the Question Hour were put up and responded by relevant ministries.
- A total of 52 supplementary questions were raised during the sitting.
Output
- The Sindh Provincial Assembly (Members) privileges (Amendment) Bill, 2011 was not taken up by the House.
- A Resolution regarding honor killing was taken up by the House. The Motion was debated for 13 minutes
Order and Institutionalization
- A total of 34 Points of Order were raised, consuming 47 minutes (23% of sitting time). However, none of them attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
- 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 of the Members of the Sindh Assembly.
The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN
