ISLAMABAD, September 30, 2014: Starting 35 minutes behind scheduled time, the last sitting of 14^thsession of the Balochistan Assembly witnessed low attendance of MPAs as only 15 were present at the outset while 23 were there adjournment of the sitting says Free and Fair Election Network.

The Balochistan Assembly passed three bills — the Balochistan Chief Minister and Provincial Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges Amendment) Bill, 2014, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges Amendment) Bill, 2014 and the Members Provincial Assembly (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges Amendment) Bill, 2014.

MPAs raised 12 points of order which consumed 38 minutes of the sitting time. However, none of the points of order attracted the chair’s formal ruling. Unless the chair gives a formal ruling on a point of order, it does not lead to any assembly output.

All three questions appearing on the agenda were not taken up by the House.

Following are some key observations of the proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Balochistan Assembly met for two hours and five minutes.
• The sitting started at 1135 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours witnessing a delay of 35 minutes.
• Fifteen members were present at the outset while 23 were there adjournment of the sitting. A maximum of 24 MPAs were observed to be present at one point of the sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting. The Speaker remained absent.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting while Leader of the Opposition was absent.
• The parliamentary leaders of the PkMAP attended the sitting while those of PML-N, PML, MWM and ANP remained absent.
• Two minority members attended the sitting.
• One member applied for leave.

Output

• The Balochistan Assembly passed three bills — the Balochistan Chief Minister and Provincial Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges Amendment) Bill, 2014, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges Amendment) Bill, 2014 and the Members Provincial Assembly (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges Amendment) Bill, 2014.
• Submitted by a JUI-F MPAs, the House unanimously adopted a resolution urging the government to form a Jirga of MPAs who can hold negotiations with Khan of Kalat in London for his return to the country for the sake of durable peace in the province.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• All three questions appearing on the agenda were not taken up by the House. 

Order and Institutionalization

• The MPAs raised 12 points of order which consumed 38 minutes of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the chair’s formal ruling. Unless the chair gives a formal ruling on a Point of Order, it does not lead to any assembly output.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on legislators’ attendance was not available to the observers and the public.