ISLAMABAD, Dec 28: The seventh sitting of the Balochistan Assembly met for an hour and seven minutes with low attendance of Members. A total of 14 Members at the outset and 15 at the end of the sitting were present.

None of the three Questions on the Orders of the Day were taken up.

Fourteen Points of Order were raised, which consumed 60 minutes of the sitting time. 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 contribute to any assembly output.

The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting. The parliamentary leaders of the JUI (Ideological), Like Minded Group and JUI attended the proceedings.

The House adopted a Resolution condemning the killing of Mr. Hafiz Ahmed Qamar in Karachi.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Balochistan Assembly met for an hour and seven minutes.
• The sitting started at 1158 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1100 hours. The House proceedings were delayed by 58 minutes.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the sitting. The Speaker was not present.
• The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition were not present.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of the JUI, Like Minded Group and JUI (Ideological) were present, while the leaders of the ANP, PMLN, PML, BNPA, and NP were absent.
• Fourteen Members (22% of total Membership) were present at the start, while 15 (23%) were there when the sitting was adjourned.
• One minority Member was present.
• Twelve Members applied for leave to be absent from the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Three Questions on the agenda were not taken up by the House.

Output

• No Bills appeared on the Orders of the Day.
• A Resolution was adopted to condemn of the killing of Mr. Hafiz Ahmed Qamar in Karachi.

Order and Institutionalization

• Fourteen Points of Order were raised, which consumed 60 minutes of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts during the sitting.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The Quorum was visibly lacking at various stages during the sitting. However, the lack of Quorum was not pointed out by any of the Members.

After successfully observing the proceedings of the National Assembly, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has started observation of the provincial assemblies – Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan – and the Senate.This daily factsheet is based on FAFEN’s direct observation of the seventh sitting of the 29th session of the Balochistan Assembly. These reports are released on the day the sittings are held to provide media and other interested stakeholders vital statistics about the Assembly proceedings to encourage informed public discourse on its performance.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Balochistan Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development (CPD), a member organization of FAFEN