The report, however, demonstrates that there are other ways in which democracy is being undermined. During the parliamentary year, there was hardly any criticism of the chief minister on the floor of the house for his performance. This is because there is barely any opposition worth the name in the Sindh Assembly. The two dominant parties in the province — the PPP and the MQM — are part of the coalition government, while the PML-Q joined it later. The national opposition party, the PML-N, was not able to win any representation in Sindh. This means that the Sindh government can pass any legislation it likes without its merits being discussed, as is shown in the report by the fact that debate in the assembly was dominated by non-agenda items.
Furthermore, attendance at the Sindh Assembly was below par despite the fact that being present when legislation is discussed and passed should be the priority of every member of the assembly. There was also far too little discussion of vital issues like terrorism and targeted killings. The assembly also did not pass a single private member’s bill, showing that personal initiative is not rewarded in the province. Overall, though, the Sindh Assembly should be congratulated for operating in a transparent manner by allowing live coverage of its proceedings, unlike the other provincial assemblies.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 2nd, 2012.
COMMENTS (3)
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Sindh Assembly performancelink text:
Nov 2011-May 2012: 7 months, Chief Minister attends 15 of 48 sittings
Punjab Assembly performance:link text
Sep 2011-May 2012: 9 months, Cheif Minister attends 2 of 55 sittings
An assembly that holds more sittings per month and certainly behaves in a more dignified manner with the chief minister attending 31% as opposed to 4% by their counterparts in Punjab get an editorial of criticsim where as the worse performer ruling a larger number of people does not.
See the performance of the Punjab Assembly in the past 5 years =>
It's the performance, stupid
You are talking about the Sindh Assembly? There is no opposition in the National Assembly. Welcome to 5 years ago.