KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly has been in session at least one-third of the last calendar year during which it considered and passed dozens of government and private pieces of legislation, making it inarguably a vibrant elected forum among its likes in the country.

According to the rules of procedures of the provincial legislature, it has to remain in session for at least 100 days a year. The present mandate of the assembly was formed on Aug 13, 2018; thus, it has passed more than 16 out of 60 months of its legitimate life.

During that period, official figures show, the assembly has been in session for 199 days out of 506 days, making it well ahead of the legislatures in other provinces.

Officials said the assembly had been in session for around 135 days this calendar year alone, which makes it one out of less than three days.

Compared to parliament and other provincial assemblies, PA has a rare distinction of having 135 sittings last year

Police Order among 10 laws passed Official records show 16 acts had been passed by the assembly since its current mandate came into being 16 months ago. Some 10 of those acts were passed during the calendar year of 2019.

Besides, some 22 private bills came for discussion in the provincial assembly, which were drafted and presented by various members.

The government presented 30 bills in 2019, of which 16 were passed, seven were sent to the standing committees concerned for further consideration and another seven were still being evaluated.

Among the prominent bills passed by the Sindh Assembly last year included The Sindh Injured Persons Compulsory Medical Treatment (Amal Umer) Bill, 2019; The Sindh Prisons and Correctional Facilities Bill, 2019; The Sindh (Repeal of the Police Act, 1861 and Revival of Police Order, 2002) Bill, 2019; The Sindh Reproductive Healthcare Rights Bill, 2019; The Coastal Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2019; The Sindh Women Agricultural Workers Bill, 2019; and The Sindh Charities Registration and Regulation Bill, 2019.

The Sindh Students Union Bill, 2019 aiming to revive the student unions, which had been banned during Gen Ziaul Haq’s regime 35 years ago, is at present with the standing committee on law and parliamentary affairs and human rights for further consideration.

Official records show some 831 resolutions were received to the assembly’s secretariat since Aug 13, 2018; of which 40 were passed, two were withdrawn and another three were rejected by the house.

The remaining resolutions were not discussed in the assembly. Most of those resolutions were moved in 2019.

PPP takes pride in making PA a ‘vibrant’ forum

The Pakistan Peoples Party’s Sindh government says the provincial assembly has the unique distinction of being the most vibrant elected forum throughout the country.

“We have been the most vibrant among all elected forums in the country, which included the National Assembly and the Senate,” Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani told Dawn.

He said the performance of the Sindh Assembly was clearly superior to its peers, which was evident from the number of days it had been in session.

“During those days, we have passed a number of landmark bills and acts by holding extensive debate on anything,” said the minister. “The assembly records shows that how extensive were our debates especially in the budget sessions in which the opposition had been given greater time and space than the treasury benches.”

Minister Ghani said the provincial assembly passed a number of bills, acts and resolutions, which covered important areas and a number of such legislation was passed for the first time making Sindh as the only province to do that.

Opposition unimpressed

However, the opposition does not agree with the government’s viewpoint, as it believed that the assembly’s prolonged sessions were not aimed at making good legislation, but there was a not-so-hidden political agenda.

“You cannot say Sindh Assembly’s performance was good or great, as a matter of fact, it was poor performance and this forum was used to serve for provincial government’s political agenda,” said Kanwar Naveed Jameel, the parliamentary party leader of the opposition Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan in the provincial legislature.

He said the agenda behind running extended assembly sessions was to help some jailed MPAs, who had been facing charges of graft and keeping assets beyond means, coming out of prisons in the name of attending assembly’s session.

“The government’s key objective behind running those sessions for record days and weeks was to facilitate Faryal Talpur and speaker [Agha Siraj Durrani] coming out of prisons. In case of Ms Talpur, she was also to be brought to Karachi from Adiala Jail,” he said.

The MQM-P lawmaker agreed that some important bills had been passed by the assembly, but most of the bills had failed to change the life of the people of Sindh since their rules of business were pending for months and years.

He said the expenses made on prolonged sessions and “time wasted” of both the assembly and the people of Sindh were much bigger and wasteful than the legislation.

However, Minister Ghani rejected the opposition’s allegation, saying the PPP’s provincial government had only one agenda and that was to improve the lifestyle and well-being of the people of Sindh.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2020