Balochistan Assembly Condemns Terrorist Attacks on Police

ISLAMABAD, October 21, 2017: The Balochistan Assembly, on Saturday, adopted a resolution to condemn the incidents of terrorism targeting police in Quetta, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are key observations of the proceedings during first sitting of the 45th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The Balochistan Assembly met for an hour and 30 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1632 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the entire proceedings.
  • The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
  • As many as 15 lawmakers (23%) were present at the outset and 20 (31%) at the adjournment of sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of PML and NP were present.
  • One minority member attended the sitting.

Output

  • The House adopted a resolution condemning the suicide attack on a police vehicle and target killing of a Police Inspector in Quetta. Seven members spoke on the resolution consuming 55 minutes of the proceedings.
  • The House also passed a resolution demanding the federal government to restore Waseela-e-Haq and Waseela-e-Rozgar schemes under Benazir Income Support Program.
  • Another resolution on the agenda regarding Balochistan’s share in petroleum and natural gas was deferred.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House rejected an adjournment motion seeking discussion on incidents of terrorism in Mastung and Gwadar.

 Order and Institutionalization

  • A lawmaker spoke on a point of order for four minutes.

Transparency

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