ISLAMABAD, October 5, 2019: The Sindh Assembly did not address 60 percent of its agenda on Saturday due to absence of the movers and adopted a supplementary resolution to oppose reports about closure of Sindhi Department in Federal Urdu University, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 11^th sitting of the sixth session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour.
• The sitting started at 1500 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Leader of the House did not attend the proceedings.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 19 minutes.
• As many as 34 MPAs (20%) were present at the outset and 56 (33%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, GDA, MQM, TLP and PTI attended the proceedings.
• Seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• Minister for Parliamentary Affairs introduced the Sindh Prohibition of  Preparation, Manufacturing, Storage, Sale and Use of Gutka and Manpuri Bill, 2019. It was referred to the relevant committee for further consideration.
• Moved by a PPPP lawmaker, the House adopted a supplementary resolution to oppose the closure of Sindhi Department in Federal Urdu University. Six lawmakers spoke on it for 32 minutes.
• Minister for Parliamentary Affairs presented the 1^STBiannual Monitoring Report on the implementation of National Finance Commission (NFC) award for the period from July-December, 2017.
• Another report of Standing Committee on Law & Parliamentary Affairs and Human rights on the Coastal Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was not presented or considered due the absence of Committee’s Chairman.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House did not take up an Adjournment Motion (AM) of MMAP lawmaker regarding Sindh Education Reports of 2018 due to mover’s absence.
•  Another AM of same lawmaker about problems of Steel Mill Karachi and its employees was not debated due to his absence. It was admitted for discussion during 6^th sitting of the same session.  

Order and Institutionalization

• The House was adjourned to meet again on October 7, 2019 (Monday) 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