ISLAMABAD, August 29, 2019: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly adopted two resolutions and witnessed introduction of three government bills on Thursday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during third sitting of eighth session requisitioned by the Opposition:
Members’ Participation
- The Assembly met for three hours and 57 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1133 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
- The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire proceedings.
- Thirty-nine (27%) were present at the outset and 22 (15%) at the end of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of ANP, PML and MMAP attended the proceedings.
- Three out of four minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- The Minister for Information introduced the KP Food Safety and Halal Food Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and two identical bills – the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2019 – seeking different amendments.
- The House adopted two resolutions to condemn Indian aggression in Occupied Kashmir and set up a Medical Care Centre in the premises of KP Assembly. Five lawmakers – two from MMAP and one each from PPPP, PTI and ANP – participated in the discussion on the former resolution for an hour and 40 minutes.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up five out of 15 Starred Questions while eight questions were lapsed due to absence of the concerned members and two were withdrawn by the relevant lawmakers. In addition, the lawmakers asked four supplementary questions.
- The Provincial Minister for Information responded to two Calling Attention Notices (CANs). These notices urged the government to authorize Inter-Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC) Regional Office in Peshawar to provide Equivalency Certificate to A-Level and O-Level students and ensure legislation against child abuse. These CANs were sponsored by PTI lawmakers.
Order and Institutionalization
- A lawmaker spoke on a Point of Order for two minutes.
- The entire opposition protested and chanted slogans against the government for three minutes over unsatisfactory reply to the questions of their lawmakers during question hour.
- An MMAP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1527 hours which led to the ringing of bells for two minutes. The quorum did not complete after ringing of the bells following which the Chair announced to adjourn the House to meet again on August 30, 2019 (Friday) at 1030 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