ISLAMABAD, November 15, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan dropped most of the Private Members’ agenda due to absence of their movers on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during second sitting of the 17th session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for two hours and 16 minutes, however, the proceedings remained suspended for 33 minutes due to prayers break.
- The sitting started at 1610 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
- The Deputy Speaker presided over the proceedings for an hour and 30 minutes in the absence of the Speaker while rest of the sitting was chaired by a Member of Panel of Chairpersons.
- The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- As many as seven MPAs (11%) were present at the outset and 13 (20%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, BNP-A, PTI and BNP-M attended the proceedings.
- One out of three minority lawmakers attended the proceedings.
Output
- Jointly moved by BNP and PkMAP lawmakers, the House adopted a resolution demanding the federal government to abolish the Pakistan Medical Commission Ordinance, 2019 and restore Pakistan Medical and Dental Council. Two lawmakers spoke on it for 15 minutes.
- Three resolutions on the agenda remained unaddressed due to absence of their movers.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up only two out of 16 starred questions while the lawmakers asked four supplementary questions as well.
- The House took up a Call Attention Notice regarding allocation for construction of a road in district Khuzdar. Four lawmakers spoke on it 20 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- Six lawmakers spoke on Points of Order for 28 minutes.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on November 18, 2019 (Monday) 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