Balochistan Assembly Demands Life-time Blue Passports

ISLAMABAD, May 28, 2018: The Balochistan Assembly adopted a resolution on Monday demanding the federal government to issue life-time blue passports to its lawmakers, reports Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during first sitting of the Assembly’s 53^rd  session:

Members’ Participation

• The Balochistan Assembly met for an hour and 48 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1713 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition attended the entire proceedings.
• Thirty-six lawmakers (55%) were present at the outset and 14 (22%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, JUI-F, PML, ANP and MWM were present.
• Two minority members attended the sitting.
• One the member applied for leave.

 Output

• The House adopted a resolution demanding the federal government to issue blue passports to its lawmakers for life time.
• The House passed the Balochistan Arts Council Bill, 2018. The bill was considered clause-by-clause after presentation of the committee report on it.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up a Calling Attention Notice regarding traffic-flow in Quetta which was responded to by Home Minister.
• A starred question on the agenda was deferred due to absence of relevant mover.

Order and Institutionalization

• A PkMAP lawmaker protested on floor of the House for three minutes against closure of development projects in his constituency.
• Another PkMAP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1855 hours which led to the adjournment of sitting at 1901 hours.

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.

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