ISLAMABAD, September 19, 2013:  Starting two hours behind the schedule, the Sindh Assembly passed nine bills during the second sitting of seventh session on Thursday.

Out of three bills on the orders of the day, the House passed two and one was deferred till the next sitting. Later the Law Minister introduced seven bills as supplementary agenda and all of them were passed.

The Chief Minister was present for 47 minutes as the Leader of Opposition did not attend the sitting. The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting. None of the MQM legislators attended the sitting.

PMLF lawmakers staged a 33-minute walkout as the Chair gave a ruling to order one of their members to leave the House over her arguments. The PMLF members returned to the Assembly as the Chair overruled the order on the request of PPPP legislators.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and 43 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1130 hours against the schedule start time of 0930 hours, witnessing a delay of two hours.
• There were 50 Members at the time of start and 48 at the time of adjournment. At one point, a maximum of 66 Members were present in the sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The Chief Minister was present for 47 minutes whereas the Leader of Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PMLF and PTI attended the sitting.
• Not a single member of MQM attended the sitting.
• Two Members applied for leave.
• Three Minority Members were present.

Representation and Responsiveness

• There were four starred questions on the orders of the day about the mines and mineral development and coal energy departments. All of them were taken up. Additionally, 11 supplementary questions were asked.
• The Assembly passed nine bills and one was deferred till the next sitting. Originally there were three bills on the agenda and two of them were passed. Later, the Law Minister introduced seven bills as supplementary agenda and all of them were passed. The passed bills were: the Sindh Prevention and Control of Thalassemia Bill 2013, the Sindh Fund Management House Bill 2013, the Malir Development Authority (Revival and Amending) Bill 2013, the Lyari Development Authority (Revival and Amending) Bill 2013, the Larkana Development Authority (Revival and Amending) Bill 2013, the Hyderabad Development Authority (Revival and Amending) Bill 2013, the Sehwan Development Authority (Revival and Amending) Bill 2013, the Sindh Building Control (Amendment) Bill 2013 and the Sindh Mental Health Bill 2013. The Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences (Amendment) Bill 2013 was deferred till the next sitting.

Order and Institutionalization

• Legislators spoke for six minutes on three points of order.
• PLMF legislators staged a walkout from the house for 33 minutes as the Chair gave the ruling to order one of their Members to leave the House over her arguments during the question hour. Later the Chair overruled the ruling on the request of senior PPPP legislators. The PMLF Members returned to the House after 33 minutes.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Legislators’ attendance was not available to the observers and the public.  

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN