ISLAMABAD, January 19, 2017: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan was prorogued on Thursday after transacting most of the business appearing on ‘Orders of the Day’ including adoption of three resolutions, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are key observations of the proceedings of last (6^th) sitting of Assembly’s 36^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Balochistan Assembly met for four hours and 22 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1648 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Speaker chaired the proceedings for two hour and seven minutes while a Member of Panel of Chairperson presided over the rest of the proceedings.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
• Nine lawmakers (13%) were present at the outset while 15 (22%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of MWM, PkMAP, ANP and JUI-F were present.
• One minority member attended the sitting.
• Six members applied for leave.

Output

• Tabled by a PkMAP lawmaker, the House adopted a resolution regarding construction of alternate airport in the Province. Six lawmakers expressed their views on resolution consuming 25 minutes of proceedings.
• Tabled by PML-N lawmaker, the House also adopted a resolution urging the government to formalize a systematic plan to cope with climate and weather changes. Seven lawmakers spoke on it for 50 minutes.
• The House adopted a resolution urging the provincial government to ensure implementation of job quota reserved for disable persons in the province. The resolution was tabled by PkMAP lawmaker and eight lawmakers express their view on it consuming 38 minutes of the sitting time.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House deferred a Starred Question appearing on the agenda due to absence of the mover.
• Sponsored by PkMAP lawmakers, the House disposed of a Privilege Motion while the other one was referred to relevant standing committee.
• The House deferred general discussion on issues related to Health department until next session.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on four Points of Order consuming 17 minutes of the proceedings.
• A lawmaker belonging to JUI-F pointed out quorum at 1945 hours. The bells were rung for five minutes and the proceedings remained suspended for ten minutes. However, the quorum was found complete upon recounting.
• The lawmakers belonging to JUI-F and ANP walked out of the House at 1727 hours for not being permitted by the Chair to speak on Privilege Motion. They rejoined the proceedings after seven minutes.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Attendance of Members was not made public.

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.