ISLAMABAD, November 12, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan took up most of its agenda on Tuesday but deferred Question Hour due to absence of relevant ministers, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during first sitting of the 17th session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for two hours and 18 minutes, however, the proceedings remained suspended for 31 minutes due to prayers break.
- The sitting started at 1645 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
- The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire proceedings in the absence of the Speaker.
- The Leader of the House attended the proceedings for 33 minutes.
- The Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- As many as seven MPAs (11%) were present at the outset and 25 (38%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of BAP, BNP-M, PkMAP, BNP-A and HDP attended the proceedings.
- Two out of three minority lawmakers attended the proceedings.
Output
- The Minister for Revenue introduced the Balochistan Land Revenue (Amendment) Bill, 2019 which was referred to the concerned Standing Committee for deliberations.
- Moved by a BAP lawmaker, the House adopted a resolution to resolve the issue of low pressure of natural gas during winter season in Ziarat. Four lawmakers spoke on it for 20 minutes.
- The House witnessed presentation of six reports by three Standing Committees.
- The Minister for Finance presented a biannual report on the implementation status of NFC Awards for the year 2018.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House deferred Question Hour due to absence of the Ministers for Home and Livestock.
- Sponsored by a PkMAP lawmaker, the House admitted an Adjourned Motion for discussion in next sitting which was about kidnapping of a student for ransom in District Qilla Abdullah.
- As many as six lawmakers spoke on matters of public importance for 26 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- Nine lawmakers spoke on Points of Order for 39 minutes.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on November 15, 2019 (Friday) at 1500 hours.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- Attendance of the lawmakers was not available to the observers and media.
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