ISLAMABAD, February 13, 2020: The requisitioned session of the Balochistan Assembly was prorogued sine die on Thursday after addressing entire agenda, says Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceeding during second and last sitting of the requisitioned (19th) session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for five hours and two minutes while the proceedings remained suspended for an hour and 42 minutes due to prayers and lunch break.
- The sitting started at 1230 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 24 minutes while rest of the sitting was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
- The Leader of the House was absent.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
- As many as 16 MPAs (25%) were present at the outset and 12 (18%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of BNP-M, HDP, PkMAP and MMAP attended the proceeding.
- All three minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House held general discussion on law and order situation, inflation and problems due to heavy snowfall. The Home Minister concluded the discussion and as many as 14 lawmakers participated in a debate on these subjects for three hours and six minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- Three lawmakers spoke on Points of Order consuming nine minutes of the proceedings.
- A BAP lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1351 hours which was found completed after counting.
- The session was prorogued sine die.
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 Balochistan Assembly proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development (CPD) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.