ISLAMABAD, Dec 22,2011: The Sindh Assembly met for three hours during the fifth sitting of the ongoing session. The sitting was marked by low attendance of Members, with only 26 present at the outset and 41 at the adjournment of the sitting.
The House unanimously passed the Sindh Madressatul Islam University bill, 2011, and adopted two Resolutions regarding women rights and CNG kits.
Ten Points of Order were raised which consumed 11% of the sitting time. None of the Points of Order raised 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.
Out of the 20 questions listed for the Question Hour, only nine were put up and responded by relevant ministries.
The Chief Minster did not attend the sitting. The Parliamentary Leaders of PPPP, MQM, ANP and PML (forward block) attended the sitting.
Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Sindh Assembly met for three hours.
- The sitting started at 1115 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours. The House proceedings started late by 75 minutes.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting. The Deputy Speaker remained absent.
- The Chief Minister was not present during the sitting.
- The Parliamentary Leaders of the PPPP, MQM, ANP and PML (forward block) attended the sitting, while the leaders of the PMLF, NPP and PML were absent.
- Twenty-six (16% of total Membership) were present at the start and 41 (25%) when the sitting was adjourned. A maximum of 47 Members (28%) were present at one point of the sitting.
- Four minority Members were present during the sitting.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Out of the 20 questions listed for the Question Hour, only nine were put up and responded by relevant ministries.
- Forty-four supplementary questions were raised during the sitting.
Output
- The House unanimously passed the Sindh Madressatul Islam University Bill, 2011.
- Two Resolutions were adopted by the House. The first Resolution was taken up to pay tribute to the women for their courage on National working Women Day. The other Resolution was about unauthorized use of substandard compressed natural gas (CNG) kits.
Order and Institutionalization
- Ten Points of Order were raised, which consumed 20 minutes (11% of sitting time). However, none of the Points of Order raised attracted the formal ruling of the Chair.
- 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
