ISLAMABAD, March 20, 2014: The Balochistan Assembly adopted four resolutions during second sitting of its 8^th session on Thursday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Two of the resolutions were sponsored by JUI-F lawmakers while one each by PkMAP and PML-N and NP legislators jointly.

Through these resolutions, the House called upon the government to provide gas facility to the residents of Aghberg, fix 70 per cent quota for the youth of Hub City at the time of issuing NOC to private companies and banks, enhance Levies quota in capacity building courses and remove Principal of Cadet College, Killa Saifullah, over illegal appointments and violation of agreement between the government representative (DCO) and Khudaidadzai tribe which donated land for the college.

Female lawmaker of JUI-F tabled a resolution about providing relaxation in the age limit from 28 to 35 years for the youth of Balochistan who want to appear in the CSS examination. Lawmakers also suggested some amendments in the resolution which would be incorporated and tabled in the later sittings.

Raised by PML-N lawmaker, the House took up an adjournment motions (AM) which was related to the killings of Kurd tribe people in the areas of Dhadar and Dera Murad Jamali. It was agreed upon that the issue would be discussed in any of the next sittings.

Following are some key observations of the proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Balochistan Assembly met for four hours and 10 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1135 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours, witnessing a delay of 35 minutes.
• Thirty-seven members were present at the outset while 27 were there at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for 52 minutes while the Deputy Speaker presided over the rest of the proceedings.
• The Chief Minister and the Leader of Opposition were present during the entire sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PML, PkMAP, NP, MWM, PML-N and ANP were present.
• Two minority members were present during the sitting.
• Four members applied for leave.

Output

• The House adopted four resolutions sponsored by lawmakers of JUI-F, PML-N, NP and PkMAP.
• The House, through these resolutions, called upon the government to provide gas facility to the residents of Aghberg, fix 70 per cent job quota for the youth of Hub city at the time of issuing NOC to private companies and banks, enhance Levies quota in capacity building courses and remove Principal of Cadet College, Killa Saifullah, over illegal appointments and violation of agreement between the government representative (DCO) and Khudaidadzai tribe.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Six of the 16 starred questions (requiring oral as well as written replies) were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministers. Lawmakers asked four supplementary questions as well.
• The House took up an AM related to the killings of Kurd tribe people in the areas of Dhadar and Dera Murad Jamali. It was agreed upon that the issue would be discussed in any of the next sittings.

Order and Institutionalization

• Lawmakers spoke on four points of order, consuming four minutes of the proceedings.

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.

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