• Session prorogued

ISLAMABAD, January 27, 2022: The Balochistan Assembly transacted entire agenda and adopted four resolutions on Thursday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during fourth and last sitting of 49th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour and 41 minutes.
• The sitting started at 04:42 pm against the scheduled time of 03:00 pm.
• The deputy speaker presided over the entire sitting in the absence of speaker.
• The leader of the house (chief minister) was not present.
• The opposition leader attended the sitting for 58 minutes.
• As many as five MPAs (eight percent) were present at the outset and nine (14 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of JWP, BNP-A, BNP-M, PkMAP, MMAP, BAP and HDP attended the proceedings.
• One out of three minority lawmakers was present.

 Output

• The House adopted four resolutions demanding the government to form coastal protection force in the province, activate motorway police in East Region of Balochistan including Qila Saifullah, refund slow meter charges to consumers received by the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) through monthly bills and ban import of apples.

Representation and Responsiveness  

• The House took up five out of eight starred questions while three questions were deferred due to absence of relevant lawmakers. In addition, lawmakers asked four supplementary questions.
• Minister for home and tribal affairs responded to a calling attention notice regarding trade management in border areas of Balochistan.

Order and Institutionalization

• Twelve lawmakers spoke on points of order for 35 minutes.
• The session was prorogued sine die.

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