ISLAMABAD, February 24, 2020: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan discussed the government strategy to avoid the spread of Coronavirus in Pakistan and adopted a resolution to support China and Iran against novel coronavirus, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Monday.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during third sitting of the 20th session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for four hours and 20 minutes, however, the proceedings remained suspended for 26 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1140 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
- The Deputy Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 58 minutes in the absence of the Speaker while rest of the proceedings was chaired by a Member of Panel of Chairpersons.
- The Leader of the House attended the sitting for 58 minutes.
- The Leader of the Opposition was not present.
- As many as 19 MPAs (23%) were present at the outset and 17 (26%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of BAP, BNP-M, PkMAP, PTI and BNP-A attended the proceedings.
- All three minority lawmakers attended the proceedings.
Output
- The House unanimously adopted a resolution to express solidarity with people of Iran and China over casualties caused by outspread of the coronavirus.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House did not observe Question Hour in order to take up supplementary agenda.
- The House held discussion on an adjournment motion regarding the government strategy to avoid the spread of Coronavirus in Pakistan. As many as 16 lawmakers took part in the debate consuming two hours and 57 minutes of the proceedings.
Order and Institutionalization
- As many as ten lawmakers spoke on Points of Order for 32 minutes.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on February 27, 2020 (Thursday) at 1100 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