ISLAMABAD, May 31, 2021: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan passed four government bills and deferred question hour due to absence of relevant minister, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Monday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during third sitting of 38th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 56 minutes.
• The sitting started at 05:46 pm against the scheduled time of 04:00 pm.
• The speaker and deputy speaker did not attend the sitting.
• A member of panel of chairpersons presided over the entire sitting.
• The leader of the House (chief minister) was not present.
• The leader of the opposition attended the sitting for an hour and 31 minutes.
• As many as 16 (25 percent) legislators were present at the start and 24 (37 percent) at the end of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of MMAP, BNP-M, BNP-A, ANP, PkMAP attended the sitting.
• Two out of three minority members were present.

Output

• The House adopted a resolution demanding the provincial government to contact federal government for waiver of agricultural loans. Ten lawmakers spoke on it for an hour and ten minutes.
• The house passed four government Bills including the Balochistan Shops and Establishment Bill, 2021; the Balochistan Industrial and Commercial Employment Bill, 2021; the Balochistan Factories Bill, 2021 and the Balochistan West Pakistan Vaccination (Amendment) Bill, 2021. Earlier, the reports of relevant standing committees on these bills were presented in the House.

 Representation and Responsiveness 

• The House deferred all six questions on the agenda due to absence of relevant minister.
• The House took up two calling attention notices (CAN) related to sale of government land to a housing society at cheaper rates and submission of details about bogus and illegal domiciles/local certificates in Assembly.

Order and Institutionalization

• Four lawmakers spoke on points of order for 23 minutes related to education sector and minority issues.
• Opposition lawmakers walked out from the proceedings for five minutes against murder of a person from Hindu community in Quetta.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Thursday, June 3, 2021 at 04:00 pm.

 Transparency

• ‘List of Business’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• The attendance of lawmakers was 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