ISLAMABAD, April 13, 2018: The Balochistan Assembly, on Friday, adopted four resolutions and took up a Calling Attention Notice, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during the second sitting of the Assembly’s 51th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Balochistan Assembly met for two hours and 36 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1624 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
- The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
- The Chief Minister and the Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.
- As many as 21 lawmakers (32%) were present at the outset and 25 (38%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of JUI-F, PkMAP, ANP, MWM and NP were present during the proceedings.
- Two minority members attended the sitting.
Output
- The House adopted four resolutions to fix fees and timings of private hospitals and clinics in Quetta, introduce biometric system at various courier services collecting passports for visas of various countries, start camel milk project in District Musakhel without any delay and provide sufficient water at Pat Feeder and Kachi Canals.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up one out of five starred questions related while four questions were withdrawn by their relevant movers.
- Sponsored by PkMAP lawmaker, the House took up a Calling Attention Notice about payment of compensation to the family members of those who lost their lives in a terrorist attack on a Church in Quetta on December 17, 2017. It was responded to by the Minister for Home & Tribal Affairs.
Order and Institutionalization
- A PkMAP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1635 hours that led to the suspension of the proceedings for seven minutes.
- Lawmakers spoke on nine points of order consuming 31 minutes of the proceedings.
- NP and PkMAP lawmakers walked out of the House for eight minutes over absence of relevant ministers to respond to their queries on various interventions.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was not available on the website of the Assembly.
- Attendance of Members was not made public.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Balochistan Assembly proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development (CPD) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted