ISLAMABAD, January 16, 2016: Starting 15 minutes behind its scheduled time, the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan passed one bill and adopted a resolution during the fourth and last sitting of its 25th session on Saturday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Some key observations are as follows:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Balochistan Assembly met for an hour and 30 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1615 hours against its scheduled time of 1600 hours.
- 22 (32%) lawmakers were present at the start and 26 (38%) at the time of adjournment of sitting.
- A maximum of 29 (43%) members attended the sitting.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
- The post of Deputy Speaker is lying vacant.
- The Chief Minister was absent.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting.
- Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, PML and JUI-F attended the sitting.
- One minority member attended the sitting.
- Four members applied for leave.
Output
- The House passed the Balochistan Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Bill 2015.
- Tabled by PkMAP lawmaker, the House adopted a joint resolution urging the government to expand the functioning of Universal Service Funds (U.S.F) to remote areas of Balochistan and administrate the work of Ministry of Information Technology in the province. Ten members spoke on the resolution for 40 minutes.
- The Chairman Standing Committee on Social Welfare, Women Development, Zakat usher, Haj Auqf, Minority and Youth Affair presented the committee report on the Balochistan Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Bill 2015 before the House.
Representation and Responsiveness
- A lawmaker belonging to PkMAP staged a walkout for seven minutes from the House against the attitude of the Speaker.
Order and Institutionalization
- Lawmakers spoke on four Points of Order consuming six minutes of the sitting.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- Attendance of Members was not made public.
To download the Factsheet, Click here
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Balochistan Assembly proceeding conducted by Center for Peace and Development (CPD) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.