ISLAMABAD, January 15, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh adopted a private member’s resolution on Tuesday urging the government to raise awareness regarding population control, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during fifth sitting of the fourth session:

Members’ Participation

• The Assembly met for two hours and 41 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1145 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 71 lawmakers (42%) were present at outset and 58 lawmakers (35%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, MQMP, TLP and MMAP attended the sitting.
• As many as seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• The lawmakers belonging to MQMP and PTI introduced the Sindh Water Management (Amendment) Bill, 2018 and the Control of Narcotic Substances (Sindh Amendment) Bill, 2018, respectively. The Chair did not refer the bills to the concerned standing committees as was required under the Rule 99 of the Rules of Procedure of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh, 2013.
• Moved by a MQMP lawmaker, the House adopted a resolution recommending the provincial government to launch an awareness campaign regarding population control. As many as 10 lawmakers debated the resolution for an hour and nine minutes.
• The House did not address the remaining resolutions, proposed amendments to the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure and private motions scheduled for the day.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Minister for Livestock and Fisheries responded to three out of six Starred Questions while remaining three questions were not taken up. The lawmakers asked 21 supplementary questions as well.

• A PPPP lawmaker withdrew her Adjournment Motion (AM) regarding the distribution of resources among provinces as the subject had already been discussed in the House during the previous sitting of the session.

Order and Institutionalization

• A MQMP lawmaker raised a Point of Order consuming two minutes of the proceedings.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on January 16, 2019 (Wednesday) at 1000 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 Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation, a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.