ISLAMABAD, December 17, 2018: The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa witnessed the introduction of three government bills on Monday while skipping the scheduled discussion on the murder of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Tahir Dawar, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

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

Members’ Participation

• The Assembly met for an hour and 48 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1112 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• As many as 45 members (36%) were present at the start and (21%) at the end of the sitting.
• The Speaker chaired 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 sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of MMAP, PML-Q and ANP attended the sitting.
• Only one out of three minority members was present.

Output                                             

• The Minister for Law introduced the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Employees of Transport Department (Regularization of Services) (Amendment) Bill, 2018, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Employees Foundation Bill 2018, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (Repeal) Bill, 2018.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House admitted a PTI lawmaker’s Adjournment Motion (AM) for discussion on the delay in exploration of mineral reserves in Upper Dir.
• The Provincial Ministers for Environment and Local Government responded to two Calling Attention Notices, moved by PMLN and PTI lawmakers, regarding the cutting of trees in Hazara Division and widespread littering at undesignated places.
• The House took up six out of 14 Starred Questions while eight questions were deferred. The lawmakers asked four supplementary questions as well.
• The House did not hold the scheduled discussion on the Adjournment Motion regarding the investigations into kidnap and murder of a Senior Superintendent (SSP) Tahir Dawar.

Order and Institutionalization

• An ANP lawmaker identified the lack of quorum that led to the adjournment of the sitting after ringing the bells for five minutes.
• The House will meet again on Tuesday December 18, 2018.

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