ISLAMABAD, May 19, 2015: The Balochistan Assembly took up two adjournment motions and discussed law and order in the province during the 4^th sitting of its ongoing 18^th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Tuesday.

The first adjournment motion (AM) was regarding the attack on an adviser to the Chief Minister while the other was attack on Balochistan Assembly’s Opposition Leader as well as other JUI-F leaders. Both AMs were admitted for debate in the previous sittings. The Chair clubbed the two identical motions and the House debated it for 42 minutes. Later, the Chief Minister concluded discussion on it during his three-minute speech.

The sitting started 42 minutes behind the schedule with 24 lawmakers (37%) present at the start and 21 (32%) at the time of adjournment.

Following are some key observations of the assembly proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Balochistan Assembly met for two hours and 40 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1642 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• 24 lawmakers (37%) were present at the start and 21 (32%) at the end of the sitting.
• A maximum of 31 (48%) members attended the sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Chief Minister and the Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of JUI-F, PkMAP and ANP were present.
• Two minority members attended the sitting.
• Two members applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Two AMs on law and order were discussed by five lawmakers- PkMAP (3), JUI-F and ANP (one each)- for 42 minutes. The Chief Minister concluded the discussion during his three minutes speech.
• The Chair admitted an AM regarding PIA flights from Quetta to Islamabad for discussion in the next sitting.
• All six questions appearing on the agenda were taken up. Additionally, the legislators raised three supplementary questions.

Order and Institutionalization

• Seventeen points of order consumed 37 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.