ISLAMABAD, January 10, 2012: The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and 50 minutes, its eleventh sitting of the ongoing session. The sitting was marked by low attendance of Members, with only 37 present at the start of the sitting and 51 at the end. The House adopted a Resolution to pay homage and tribute to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto on his 84th birth anniversary. The House took up only four questions out of 33 which appeared on the Agenda. Twenty-six supplementary questions were raised.
Only the Parliamentary Leader of the MQM was present, while those of the PML (forward block), NPP, PMLF PPPP, ANP and PML did not attend.
The following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and 50 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1125 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours. The proceedings were delayed by an hour and 25 minutes.
- The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
- The Chief Minister was not present.
- Only the Parliamentary Leader of the MQM was present while those of the PML (forward block), NPP, PMLF, PPPP, ANP and PML were absent.
- Thirty-seven Members (22% of the total Membership) were present at the start while 51 (30%) were there when the sitting was adjourned. A maximum of 67 Members (41%) were present at one point of the sitting.
- There were five minority Members present.
- Two Members applied for leave to be absent.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Only four out of 33 questions listed for the Question Hour were put up and responded to by the relevant ministries.
- Twenty-six supplementary questions were raised.
Output
- The House adopted a Resolution to pay homage and tribute to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto on his 84th birth anniversary. The Members debated the Resolution for 50 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- Thirty-two Points of Order were raised which consumed 42 minutes (25% of the sitting time). However, none of the Points of Order 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 of 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
