ISLAMABAD, December 27, 2018: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan adopted four resolutions on Thursday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during fifth sitting of fifth session:

Members’ Participation

• The Assembly met for three hours and 47 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1603 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• As many as 13 members (20%) were present at the start and 22 (34%) at the end of the sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting as the Speaker was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for an hour and 50 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition was present in the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of MMAP, BNP-M, PkMAP and BAP attended the sitting.
• Two out of three minority members were present.

Output                                             

• The House adopted four resolutions moved by MMA, BNP-M and PkMAP lawmakers. Two of these resolutions urged the federal government to ensure action against the speeding and overloaded vehicles on the highways and take notice of the reportedly unfair distribution of gas by SNGPL. The remaining two resolutions urged the provincial government to increase the upper age limit to apply for government job and establish a committee to make provincial assembly of Balochistan an E-Assembly on the model of Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. These resolutions were moved by MMA, BNP-M and PkMAP lawmakers. Another resolution urging the federal government to hand over the control of universities located in Balochistan to the provincial government deferred due to absence of the mover.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up six out of 11 Starred Questions while five questions were deferred as the concerned lawmakers who had asked the questions were not present.
• The House admitted a BNP-M lawmaker’s Adjournment Motion for discussion on delay in payment of scholarship amount by the provincial government.
• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices regarding disconnection of electricity supply to WASA schemes and vacant posts of watchmen were taken up in the House. These calling attention notices were submitted by PkMAP and BNM-M lawmakers.

Order and Institutionalization

• As many as seven members spoke on four Point of Orders consuming 24 minutes.

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.