ISLAMABAD, April 14, 2022: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan adopted two resolutions and consumed almost one-third of its proceedings’ time on points of order, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Thursday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the third sitting of 52nd session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met an hour and 39 minutes.
• The sitting started at 02:46 pm against the scheduled time of 01:00 pm.
• The deputy speaker presided over the proceedings for 36 minutes while the remaining sitting was chaired by the deputy speaker.
• The leader of the house (chief minister) and the leader of the opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 12 (18 percent) legislators were present at the start and six (nine percent) at the end of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, HDP, PNP and BNP-M attended the sitting.
• All three minority members were present.

 Output

• The House adopted a resolution recommending the provincial government to contact federal government for re-opening of border areas in the province and promote trade activities to end unemployment there. The resolution was tabled by a lawmaker belonging to MMAP.
• Sponsored by a PkMAP lawmaker, the House adopted another resolution demanding induction of local people in nursing departments rather than hiring persons from other provinces.

Representation and Responsiveness 

• The House took up three out of nine starred questions while lawmakers asked three supplementary questions as well. Six starred questions were deferred due to the absence of relevant minister.

Order and Institutionalization

• Twelve lawmakers spoke on points of order for 32 minutes which were mainly related to electricity load-shedding during Ramadan and issues related to government employees and law and order situation.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Saturday, April 16, 2022 at 01:00 pm.

Transparency

• ‘List of Business’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• The attendance of lawmakers was 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