ISLAMABAD, February 25, 2014: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh adopted thirteen resolutions, introduced two bills and carried five motions during the eleventh sitting of its ongoing 11th session on Tuesday, says the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Three of the resolutions passed were included in Orders of the Day while ten others were brought out-of-turn. The lawmakers belonging to MQM sponsored eight of these resolutions while three were sponsored by PPPP legislators and two by PML-F members.

The resolutions sought establishment of a passport office and an engineering university in Mirpurkhas Division, setting up of an engineering college in Sukkur and formation of Provincial Commission on Status of Women and Sindh Women Parliamentarians Caucus. Two of the resolutions called upon the federal government to stop electricity and gas load shedding in the province. A condolence resolution was also passed by the House, expressing sorrow over demise of a private television channel owner.

The House also passed a resolution expressing solidarity with the security forces, while seeking ban on religious and political parties supporting Tehreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Another resolution urging the federal government to provide official passports to members, their spouses and children under 18 years of age was also passed by the Provincial Assembly. Yet another resolution demanded elevation of four provincial languages Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtu and Balochi as national languages.

Moreover, a resolution urged the provincial government to ensure security of worship places of all religions and frame policy for their registration while another asked the government to implement the constitutional and administrative setup of the Sindhi Literature Board.

Another resolution regarding reserved seats for disabled persons was deferred while PTI lawmaker withdrew his resolution regarding implementation of right to information law.

The House also carried five motions each regarding strict mechanism for issuance of domicile certificates, teaching of Sindhi language in the province, provision of technical and vocational education and finance schemes for women, implementation of Child Labour laws and provision of gas produced in Sindh to residents of the province on priority basis. Three of the movers belonged to PPPP, one each to MQM and PTI.

The House also witnessed introduction of two bills namely The Mandatory DNA Testing Bill, 2013 and The Sindh Consumer Protection Bill, 2013, sponsored by a female lawmaker of PPPP. Moreover, a MQM lawmaker withdrew The Registration (Sindh Amendment) Bill, 2013.

A PTI lawmaker brought a privilege motion against non-allotment of a room for his party in the Assembly Secretariat. The motion was disposed of after the Chair assured him of the allotment.

The House took up five of the 12 starred questions (requiring oral as well as written replies) directed to the Labour Department and were responded to by the provincial minister for parliamentary affairs. The members also asked 35 supplementary questions.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings:

• The Sindh Assembly met for four hours and 20 minutes taking a three minute break for Azan.
• The sitting started at 1130 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours, witnessing a delay of one and a half hours.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting as the Speaker was absent.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 40 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of PML-N, PPPP, PTI and PML-F attended the sitting.
• Forty-nine members were present at the outset while 52 at the adjournment. A maximum of 81 members were observed to be present at one point during the sitting.
• Four minority members attended the sitting.
• A member applied for leave.

Output

• Three of the resolutions passed were included in Orders of the Day while ten others were brought out-of-turn. The lawmakers belonging to MQM sponsored eight of these resolutions while three were sponsored by PPPP legislators, and two by PML-F members. The resolutions sought establishment of a passport office and an engineering university in Mirpurkhas division, setting up of an engineering college in Sukkur and formation of Provincial Commission on Status of Women and Sindh Women Parliamentarians Caucus. Two of the resolutions urged the federal government to stop electricity and gas load shedding in the province. A condolence resolution was also passed expressing sorrow over demise of a private television channel owner.
• The House also passed a resolution expressing solidarity with security forces and seeking ban on religious and political parties supporting Taliban. A resolution was passed urging the federal government to provide official passports to members, their spouses and children under 18 years of age. Another resolution demanded elevation of four provincial languages Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtu and Balochi as national languages. Moreover, a resolution urged provincial government to ensure security of worship places of all religions and frame policy for their registration while another asked government to implement the constitutional and administrative setup of the Sindhi Literature Board.
• A resolution regarding reserved seats for disabled persons was deferred while PTI lawmaker withdrew his resolution regarding implementation of right to information law.
• The House also witnessed introduction of two bills namely The Mandatory DNA Testing Bill, 2013 and The Sindh Consumer Protection Bill, 2013, sponsored by a female lawmaker of PPPP. Moreover, a MQM lawmaker withdrew The Registration (Sindh Amendment) Bill, 2013.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Assembly carried five motions each regarding strict mechanism for issuance of domicile certificates, teaching of Sindhi language in the province, provision of technical and vocational education and finance schemes for women, implementation of Child Labour laws and provision of gas produced in Sindh to residents of the province on priority basis. Three of the movers belonged to PPPP, one each to MQM and PTI.
• The House took up five of the 12 starred questions (requiring oral as well as written replies) directed to the Labour Department and were responded to by the provincial minister for parliamentary affairs. The members also asked 35 supplementary questions.
• A PTI lawmaker brought a privilege motion against non-allotment of a room for his party in the Assembly Secretariat. The motion was disposed of after the Chair assured him of the allotment.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised three points of order which consumed four minutes of the proceedings’ time.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on members’ attendance was available to 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