ISLAMABAD, April 6, 2017: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan adopted two resolutions out of five appearing on the agenda during Private Members’ Day on Thursday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are key observations of the proceedings during second sitting of Assembly’s 38^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Balochistan Assembly met for four hours and 18 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1646 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The Chief Minister attended the sitting for three hours and 14 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition was absent.
• Twenty-four lawmakers (37%) were present at the outset and 10 (15%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of PML, PkMAP, ANP, PML-N and MWM were present during the proceedings.
• Three minority members also attended the sitting.
• Eleven members applied for leave.

Output

• The House adopted a resolution urging the government to include journalism as a subject in curriculum of colleges. The resolution was tabled by JUI-F female lawmaker and four members express their views on it consuming eight minutes of the proceedings.
• Two Adjournment Motions were converted into a resolution which was also adopted by the House unanimously. The converted resolution was demanding the safety of Pashtun and Baloch students studying outside the province after the incident of a clash between student groups in the Punjab University, Lahore. Twelve lawmakers expressed their view on it for an hour and 35 minutes.
• Tabled by PkMAP lawmaker, the House rejected a resolution demanding provision of funds for establishment of new educational institute in the province with majority votes against it. Six lawmakers spoke on the subject of resolution consuming 26 minutes of the proceedings.
• Another two resolutions that appeared on the agenda were withdrawn by their movers after getting assurance from the government. They were calling for regularization of faculty staff of community schools and making teachings of Quran as part of Primary, Secondary and Intermediate education syllabus.

Representation and Responsiveness

• One out of three Starred Questions was taken up and responded to by the relevant minister. A lawmaker also asked one Supplementary Question.
• The House discussed two Adjournment Motions (AMs) after clubbing them together. The motions were about the safety of Pashtun and Baloch students after a clash between student groups in the Punjab University, Lahore. Later, the motions were converted into a resolution which was adopted by the House.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on four Points of Order consuming six minutes of the proceedings.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• 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.