ISLAMABAD, January 21, 2022: The Balochistan Assembly deferred 60 percent agenda on Friday due to ministerial absence and adopted two resolutions, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during second sitting of 49th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour and 22 minutes.
• The sitting started at 04:43 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 entire sitting.
• As many as three MPAs (five percent) were present at the outset and seven (11 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of BAP, MMAP and PkMAP attended the proceedings.
• One out of three minority lawmakers was present.

 Output

• The House adopted a resolution demanding the provincial government for verification of domiciles of doctors, veterinary doctors and other staff appointed in federal government on Balochistan quota. It was sponsored by a lawmaker belonging to MMAP and five lawmakers spoke on it for 23 minutes.
• Sponsored by a PkMAP lawmaker, the House adopted another resolution demanding the government to ensure steps for protection of students studying in educational institutions of Punjab and Capital. Two lawmakers spoke on it for nine minutes.

Representation and Responsiveness  

• The House neither observed question hour nor took up calling attention notices due to absence of relevant ministers.

Order and Institutionalization

• Two MMAP lawmakers staged a token walkout from the House against absence of relevant ministers to reply questions and calling attention notices.
• Five lawmakers spoke on points of order for 37 minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Monday, January 24, 2022 at 03:00 pm.

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