The 23rd session of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly unanimously passed two Resolutions – one calling upon the federal government to legislate to set up an authority to regulate drugs and the other condemning a congressional hearing in the United States House of Representatives on Balochistan.
The first Resolution was moved in the backdrop of deaths in Punjab because of use of spurious drugs in January this year. A US congressional panel on foreign affairs held a hearing on Balochistan on February 8, which was termed an “ill-advised move” by Pakistan. The session comprising five sittings passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Publication of the Holy Quran (Elimination of Printing and Recording Errors) Bill 2012. However, it referred the National Disaster Management (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) Amendment Bill 2012 to the relevant Standing Committee.
Overall Legislators’ participation and attendance in the session was low.
Only 28 MPAs – 24 male, four female (less than 25% of the 124 Members) – participated in the session by either submitting an agenda item for the Orders of the Day or by taking part in the on-floor debates.
A party-wise analysis shows that 47% of MMAP’s Parliamentarians took part in the proceedings, followed by PMLN’s 44%, PML’s 29%, and PPPS’s 17%. However, only 16% of the ANP Legislators, which is the largest party in the House with 48 MPAs, attended the proceedings. None of the Independents took part in any parliamentary business conducted during the session.
To gauge Members’ attendance, FAFEN observers conduct a headcount at the start and end of each sitting. On average, 40 Legislators were present at the start and end of each sitting.
Speeches by Members and Treasury rejoinders on Points of Order took 16% of the total session time, dipping into the time otherwise allocated for agenda items on the Order of the Day. Unless the Speaker gives a formal ruling on a Point of Order, speeches and rejoinders do not contribute to any assembly output and only provide media with news pegs.
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