Balochistan Assembly Prorogued after Debate on Provincial Matters

Usman Khan

4 years ago

ISLAMABAD, December 31, 2020: The requisitioned session of Balochistan Assembly concluded on Thursday after comprehensive debate on provincial matters including fencing in Gwadar city and law and order situation, observes the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during first and last sitting of 30^th session requisitioned by the opposition lawmakers:

Members’ Participation

The House met for five hours and 19 minutes.
The sitting started at 1635 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
The Deputy Speaker presided over the proceedings for four hours and 23 minutes while remaining sitting was chaired by a Member of Panel of Chairpersons.
The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) was present for four hours and 34 minutes.
The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
As many as 21 MPAs (32%) were present at the outset and 14 (22%) at the adjournment of sitting.
The parliamentary leader HDP, BNP-M, ANP, BAP and MMAP attended the proceedings.
One out of three minority lawmakers was present.

Representation and Responsiveness

The House consumed major part of the proceedings in debate on provincial matters including fencing in Gwadar City, law and order situation, illegal occupation on land of tribal people, drug peddling activities and lack of indiscriminate enforcement of rule of law. Fourteen lawmakers including the Leaders of the House and the Opposition participated in the discussion and spoke for four hours and 44 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

Three lawmakers spoke on points of order for 11 minutes.
The Session was adjourned for an indefinite period.

Transparency

‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
Attendance of the lawmakers was not available to media and observers.

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.