Balochistan Assembly Condemns Attack on Afghan Seminary

ISLAMABAD, April 10, 2018: The Balochistan Assembly adopted a resolution on Tuesday to condemn airstrikes on a religious seminary in Kunduz in Afghanistan, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the first sitting of the Assembly’s 51th session:

 Members’ Participation 

  • The Balochistan Assembly met for two hours and 58 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1642 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
  • The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
  • The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
  • The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for an hour and 40 miniutes.
  • As many as 18 lawmakers (28%) were present at the outset and 15 (23%) at the adjournment of sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, MWM and ANP were present during the proceedings.
  • Two minority members attended the sitting.

Output

  • Tabled by Minister for Law, the House passed the Balochistan Public-Private Partnership Bill, 2018.
  • The House adopted a resolution to condemn airstrikes on a religious seminary in Kunduz in Afghanistan killing several persons including students. Thirteen lawmakers participated in debate on it and spoke for an hour and 14 minutes.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House took up three out of four starred questions related to Education Department. In addition, lawmakers asked four supplementary questions.

Order and Institutionalization

  • An NP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1848 hours that led to the suspension of the proceedings for 15 minutes.
  • Lawmakers spoke on 11 points of order consuming 36 minutes of the proceedings.

 Transparency

  • ‘Orders of the Day’ was not available on the website of the Assembly.
  • Attendance of Members was not made public.

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.