ISLAMABAD, September 24, 2021: The Sindh Assembly transacted entire agenda and referred two bills to the relevant committee for deliberation, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Friday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the seventh sitting of 23rd session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour and 45 minutes.
• The sitting started at 03:15 pm against the scheduled time of 02:00 pm.
• The speaker presided over the entire proceedings.
• The deputy speaker did not attend the sitting.
• The leaders of the House (Chief Minister) and the opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 20 MPAs (12 percent) were present at the outset and 54 (32 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, MQMP and MMAP attended the proceedings.
• Six out of nine minority lawmakers attended the proceedings.

 Output 

• The House witnessed introduction of two government bills which were referred to the relevant committee for further consideration. These bills were the Sindh Institute of Advanced Endoscopy and Gastroenterology Bill, 2021 and the Sindh Telemedicine and Telehealth Bill, 2021.
• The House passed an amendment in the rules of procedure of the provincial assembly Sindh, 2013 allowing Advisors and Special Assistants to Chief Minister to participate in proceedings of the House and respond to lawmakers on issues raised by them through various interventions.

  Representation and Responsiveness 

• Three out of seven starred questions were taken up during the question hour. In addition, the lawmakers asked 17 supplementary questions.
• The House took up four calling attention notices (CANs) about number of Special Assistants in Sindh government as compared to the Punjab government, deteriorated condition of dispensaries and Maternity Homes of KMC and DMC of Karachi South, Sindh Government’s share on Karachi transformation plan and declaring Urdu as the official language for communication in all government offices.
• Another CAN on the agenda was deferred due to absence of relevant minister which was about pollution in Magopir road Karachi due to marble factories there.
• A lawmaker belonging to MQMP withdrew his privilege motion on the assurance of Minister for parliamentary affairs.
• The Chair admitted an adjournment motion for debate which was regarding hike in petroleum prices in the country. The motion was sponsored by a PPPP lawmaker.

Order and Institutionalization

• Lawmakers belonging to opposition protested during the proceedings for two minutes against non-provision of copies of an amendment to the rules of procedure to them.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Monday, September 27, 2021 at 02:00 pm.

 Transparency                                                             

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers was not 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 excepted