Balochistan Assembly defers question hour, adopts one resolution

ISLAMABAD, January 18, 2022: The Balochistan Assembly deferred question hour due to ministerial absence and adopted one resolution on Tuesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

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

Members’ Participation

  • The House met for an hour and 34 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 04:41 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) attended the sitting for an hour and 22 minutes.
  • The opposition leader attended the entire sitting.
  • As many as four MPAs (six percent) were present at the outset and five (seven percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of BAP, MMAP, BNP-A and BNP-M attended the proceedings.
  • Two out of three minority lawmakers was present.

 Output

  • Minister for home affairs introduced the Balochistan Letters of Administration and Succession Certificates Bill, 2022 which was referred to the relevant committee.
  • The House adopted a resolution in favor of Tablighi Jamaat and termed it as a peaceful set-up.

Representation and Responsiveness  

  • The House did not observe question hour due to absence of Minister for local government.
  • Minister for education responded to a calling attention notice (CAN) regarding non-promotion of teachers in Balochistan.
  • Another CAN on the agenda was not taken up.

Order and Institutionalization

  • Six lawmakers spoke on points of order for 37 minutes.
  • The House was adjourned to meet again on Friday, January 21, 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