ISLAMABAD, January 28, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan held a discussion on the government’s policy for mineral and natural reserves in the province, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) on Monday.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during first sitting of seventh session:

Members’ Participation

• The Assembly met for four hours and 39 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1558 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for 46 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
• As many as 16 members (25%) were present at the start and 25 (38%) at the end of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of JWP, BNP-M, PkMAP, ANP, BAP and HDP attended the sitting.
• All minority members were present during the proceedings.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Ministers for Hajj and Auqaf, and Services and General Administration responded to nine out of 10 Starred Questions while one question address to the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource was deferred due to absence of the concerned minister.
• The House admitted a PkMAP lawmaker’s Adjournment Motion for discussion on the issue of accidents on highways due to over-speeding.
• The Minister for Communication and Works responded to a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) submitted by a MMAP lawmaker regarding the missing record of B & R Office in Washuk district. The House deferred a CAN submitted by a BNP-M lawmaker regarding regularization of the workers of Hub Industrial City due to absence of the Minister for Industries.
• As many as two members participated in the discussion on drafting a policy for mineral and natural resources in Balochistan. The discussion continued for 43 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• As many as ten members spoke on four Point of Orders consuming 24 minutes.

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 Balochistan Assembly proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development (CPD) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.