• Session Prorogued for an Indefinite Period

ISLAMABAD, March 29, 2021: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh passed three government bills and took up three Call Attention Notices (CANs) before being prorogued for an indefinite period on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

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

Members’ Participation

• The Assembly met for two hours and 33 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1337 hours against the scheduled time of 1200 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• Twenty-two legislators (13%) were present at the outset and 39 (23%) at the end of the sitting.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of TLP, PTI and PPPP attended the proceedings while those of GDA, MMAP and MQMP could not attend the session.
• Five out of nine minority lawmakers were present.

Output                                             

• Minister for Parliamentary Affairs introduced the Sindh Institute of Music and Reforming Art Bill, 2020, which was later referred to the relevant committee for deliberation.
• The House passed three government bills which included the Sindh Trusts (Amendment) Bill, 2021, the Sindh Letters of Administration and Succession Certificates Bill, 2021 and the Millennium Institute of Technology and Entrepreneurship Bill, 2020.
• Three reports were presented in the House. They were related to the 1st Biannual Monitoring on the implementation of National Finance Commission (NFC) Award for the period July-December, 2019, the Millennium Institute of Technology and Entrepreneurship Bill, 2020 and the Sindh Trusts (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Out of 12 starred questions, the House took up eight questions which were related to the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. In addition, the lawmakers asked 30 supplementary questions.
• The House also took up three CANs which were related to the increase in cases of domestic violence in Sukkur, non-payment of salaries to the contractual employees of Sindh House, Islamabad and also to the employees of Reverse Osmosis (R.O Plants) in Tharparkar. The CANs were raised by PTI and GDA lawmakers.
• The House deferred two CANs due to the absence of relevant ministers which were regarding procurement of wheat and impact of COVID-19 on women’s economic conditions.
• Sponsored by a PPPP lawmaker, the Chair admitted an adjournment motion for discussion which was about harassment cases in universities.
• The House deferred debate on an adjournment motion that was related to the hike in electricity prices.

Order and Institutionalization

• An MQMP lawmaker protested for six minutes, when the Speaker did not allow him to speak on an agenda item regarding Governor’s message for reconsideration of The Sindh Letters of Administration and Succession Certificates Bill, 2021.
• The lawmakers belonging to MQMP, PTI, TLP and GDA also protested for two minutes on deferment of an adjournment motion by the Chair.
• The Session was later prorogued sine die.

 Transparency

• ‘List of Business’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• The attendance of lawmakers was not available to the observers and media.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.