ISLAMABAD, November 09, 2018: The Sindh Assembly on Friday unanimously adopted two resolutions to eulogize the services of Poet of the East Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during first sitting of third session of the Sindh Assembly:

Members’ Participation

• The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and 30 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1102 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 44 minutes while the Deputy speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
• The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
• Forty-nine lawmakers (29%) were present at the outset and 51 (30%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, MQM, GDA, TLP and MMAP attended the sitting.
• As many as seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the proceedings.

Output

• Presented by the Minister for Education, the House unanimously adopted a resolution to pay tribute to the Poet of the East Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal.
• The House unanimously adopted another resolution on Sindh Assembly’s authorization to parliament to enact a law regulating the matters of Ruet-e-Hilal. The resolution was presented by the Minister for Works and Services.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Presented by MQM lawmaker, the House admitted an Adjournment Motion on the law and order in Karachi for discussion.
• Raised by PTI lawmaker, the House took up a Privilege Motion regarding the alleged misbehavior of a security guard at the NICVD. After the assurance of the Minister for Health, the mover withdrew his motion.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised four Points of Order consuming 16 minutes of the proceedings.
• The House took up three out of six starred questions appearing on the agenda, while the lawmakers asked 19 supplementary questions as well. Three of the remaining starred questions were rejected by the House.

• The lawmaker belonging to GDA protested for three minutes against the Chair’s refusal to allow him to present an out-of-turn Adjournment Motion.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on November 12, 2018 at 1500 hours.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation, a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.