ISLAMABAD, May 30, 2015: The Balochistan Assembly adopted a resolution on Saturday to condemn the killing of 19 passengers in Mastung and express condolences with the victims’ families, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

The sitting started 15 minutes behind the schedule with 21 lawmakers (32%) present at the start and 22 (34%) at the time of adjournment. Seventeen lawmakers, including the Chief Minister, spoke on the resolution for 183 minutes.

Five legislative bills and an adjournment motion on water shortage and sanitary issues in Quetta were left unaddressed as the House suspended its regular agenda to discuss the Mastung incident.

Following are some key observations of the assembly proceedings: 

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Balochistan Assembly met for three hours and 20 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1615 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• 21 lawmakers (32%) were present at the start and 22 (34%) at the end of the sitting.
• A maximum of 33 (51%) members attended the sitting.
• The sitting was entirely chaired by a member of the Panel of Chairpersons.
• The Chief Minister and the Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PML, JUI-F, PkMAP and ANP were present.
• Two minority members attended the sitting.
• No member applied for leave.

Output

• The House adopted a resolution tabled by the Opposition Leader to condemn the killing of 19 passengers in Mastung and express condolences with the victims’ families.
• Seventeen lawmakers (four each from NP, JUI-F and PML-N; three from PkMAP and two from PML) spoke on the resolution for 183 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• Two points of order consumed two minutes of the sitting.

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.

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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