ISLAMABAD, February 11, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh could not address most of its agenda on Monday due to a walkout by opposition lawmakers who protested over the remarks of a government legislator against one of their colleagues, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 19^th sitting of the fourth session:

Members’ Participation

• The Assembly met for two hours and 24 minutes.

• The sitting started at 1505 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 34 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the sitting.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for 32 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and 23 minutes.
• As many as 63 lawmakers (38%) were present at outset and 50 lawmakers (30%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of TLP, GDA and MMAP attended the sitting.
• As many as six out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Minister for Energy responded to five Starred Questions while the lawmakers asked 27 supplementary questions as well.
• The Minister for Health responded to a Call Attention Notice (CAN) regarding lack of facilities in emergency ward of Lyari General Hospital, Karachi.
• Five CANs on the agenda were not taken up due to the walkout by their movers while one was not considered due to absence of the mover.
• A PPPP lawmaker’s Adjournment Motion (AM) got lapsed due to her absence which was regarding overbilling by Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) in Shaheed Benazirabad.
• Sponsored by an MMAP lawmaker, the House continued discussion on an AM regarding anti-encroachment operation in Karachi. As many as three lawmakers spoke on it for 22 minutes.
• Moved by a PPPP lawmaker, the House adopted a motion censuring GDA lawmaker for using objectionable remarks against lawmakers. Two lawmakers debated the motion for as many minutes

Order and Institutionalization

• As many as four lawmakers raised Points of Order consuming 16 minutes of the proceedings.
• The lawmakers belonging to GDA, PTI and MQMP protested for eight minutes over remarks of a PPPP lawmaker against one of their colleagues. Subsequently, they walked out of the proceedings at 1628 hours and did not return to the House till adjournment of the sitting.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on February 27, 2019 (Wednesday) at 1400 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 (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted