ISLAMABAD, October 26, 2020: The Provincial Assembly of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) adopted eight supplementary resolutions after the suspension of rules, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Monday.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 2nd sitting of the 14th session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for an hour and 55 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1527 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
- The Leader of the House did not attend the proceedings.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for an hour and 20 minutes
- As many as 60 (41%) legislators were present at the start and 50 (34%) at the end of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of MMAP, BAP and PML-N attended the sitting.
- As many as three minority members were present in the sitting.
Output
- The House adopted eight supplementary resolutions and none of the adopted resolutions was on the list of business of the House. According to Rule 124 of the Rules of Procedure of KP Assembly, a Private Member, who wishes to move a resolution, shall give 15 days’ notice of his intention to do so and shall submit, together with the notice, a copy of the resolution which he intends to move. However, the members invoked Rule 240, requesting the Speaker to suspend the relevant rules and accommodate their resolutions.
- One of the adopted resolutions condemned the publication of blasphemous caricatures in France while others demanded to introduce easier visa policy for Afghan people, legislate for protection to journalists, hand over Buner road to NHA for repair, take steps to reduce voter gender gap, include subject of environment in syllabus at school level, provide free face masks to students and provide scholarships to students of newly merged districts of KP studying in other provinces.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up two call attention notices regarding developmental packages for markets in Waziristan and provision of monthly stipend to the family of a mine worker.
- The House took up five out of eight starred questions while lawmakers asked nine supplementary questions as well.
- The House referred a privilege motion of an MMAP lawmaker to the relevant committee while two other motions were deferred.
Order and Institutionalization
- Two lawmakers spoke on points of orders for ten minutes.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on October 27, 2020 (Tuesday) at 1400 hours.
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