ISLAMABAD, September 20, 2017: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution on Wednesday to condemn violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are some key observations of the proceedings during second sitting of 26th session:
Members’ Participation
- The KP Assembly met for an hour and 47 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1530 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
- The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting in the absence of Speaker.
- The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for an hour and five minutes.
- Forty lawmakers (33%) were present at the start and 22 (18%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of JI, ANP, PML-N and PPPP attended the sitting.
- Two minority lawmakers were present.
- Eleven members applied for leave.
Output
- Moved by a JUI-F lawmaker, the House unanimously adopted a resolution to condemn violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Three lawmakers spoke on it for twelve minutes.
- Special Secretary to Chief Minister on Housing introduced the KP Housing Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2017 in the House.
- The Government withdrew two bills namely the KP Censorship of Motion Pictures (Films, CDs, Videos, Stage Dramas and Shows) Bill, 2015 and the KP Prohibition of Usurious Loans Bill, 2014.
- A member of the Public Accounts Committee presented committee report for year 2013-14 which was adopted by the House.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as three out of 12 Starred Questions were responded to by the government. The lawmakers also asked nine Supplementary Questions.
- The House referred an Adjournment Motion and a Privilege Motion appearing on agenda to concerned standing committees.
- Two Call Attention Notices appearing on the List of Business remained unaddressed.
Order and Institutionalization
- A treasury lawmaker spoke on a Point of Order consuming one minute of the proceedings.
- Entire opposition walked out of the House at 1633 hours for not referring a Starred Question related to Industries Department to concerned committee. They did not return to the House till the adjournment of the proceedings.
- A PPPP lawmaker pointed out the quorum twice and siting had to be adjourned during her second call due to presence of less than 25 percent lawmakers in the House.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- The attendance of lawmakers was not available to the observers and media.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the KP Assembly proceeding conducted by United Rural Development Organization (URDO) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted