ISLAMABAD, April 19, 2018: Treasury and opposition lawmakers lodged a joint protest in the Balochistan Assembly on Thursday against provincial bureaucracy for not taking the Assembly business seriously, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are key observations of the proceedings during fourth sitting of the Assembly’s 51^st session:

 Members’ Participation 

• The Balochistan Assembly met for four hours and 12 minutes; however the proceedings remained suspended for 45 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1636 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for an hour and 34 minutes while a member of Panel of Chairpersons presided over the rest of the proceedings.
• The Chief Minister attended the sitting for an hour and 38 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
• As many as 21 lawmakers (32%) were present at the outset and 8 (12%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, MWM and PML were present during the proceedings.
• As many as two minority members attended the sitting.
• As many as five members applied for leave of absence.

Output

• Moved by PkMAP lawmaker, the House unanimously adopted two resolutions recommending the government to declare Musakhel district “Livestock Center” and construct a new road linking Kangri to Sangar areas of Musakhel. As many as seven lawmakers debated these resolutions for 24 minutes.
• Chairperson Standing Committee on Education, Literacy, Non-formal Education, Quality Education, Presidential Program CDWA, Science and Information Technology presented the report of the committee on the protest of the candidates for jobs in Education Department.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House deferred a Starred Question due to absence of its mover.
• Provincial Minister for Health responded to two Call Attention Notices highlighting quackery in Quetta and the strike by young doctors and paramedics in the province.
• The House admitted an Adjournment Motion regarding terrorist attack on a Church in Quetta for discussion on April 24, 2018. As many as six lawmakers debated the admissibility of the motion for 17 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on 10 Point of Order consuming 41 minutes of the proceedings.
• A JUI-F lawmaker staged a walkout at 1714 hours over the remarks of another lawmaker belonging to her own party against the teachers. She did not return to the House.
• A lawmaker belonging to NP pointed out the quorum at 1815 hours that led to the suspension of the proceedings for nine minutes.
• The House proceedings remained suspended for 36 minutes due to absence of the government secretaries in the House galleries.
• Treasury and opposition lawmakers staged a five minute token walkout against the attitude of the bureaucracy towards the parliamentary business.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was not available on the website of the Assembly.
• Attendance of Members was not made 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