ISLAMABAD, August 3, 2021: The Balochistan Assembly discussed water share issues with the Sindh government and law and order in the province, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Tuesday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during first sitting of the 42nd session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for four hours and 35 minutes; however, the proceedings remained suspended for 36 minutes due to prayer break.
• The sitting started at 04:50 pm against the scheduled time of 04:00 pm.
• The speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The deputy speaker was not present.
• The leader of the House (Chief Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The opposition leader attended the entire sitting.
• As many as 18 MPAs (28 percent) were present at the outset and 12 (18 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of MMAP, BNP-M, PkMAP, BNP-A and HDP attended the proceedings.
• All three minority lawmakers were present.

 

Output

• The House did not take up the Balochistan Board of Technical and Vocational Education Bill, 2021.
• The Provincial Minister for Finance presented four statutory reports which were referred to the Public Accounts Committee.

Representation and Responsiveness  

• The House took up three out of nine starred questions, while one supplementary question was also asked.
• Minister for Home department responded to a calling attention notice (CAN) regarding theft and dacoity incidents at the houses of Hindu community in Hernai district.
• Another CAN on the agenda was deferred on the request of relevant minister.
• The House discussed an adjournment motion related to water share issues with Sindh government under the water apportionment accord, 1991. Five lawmakers participated in debate on it and spoke for an hour and 12 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• Three lawmakers spoke on points of order for an hour 15 minutes related to lack of basic facilities in Gwadar, abduction of son of an MPA and overall law and order in the province.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Friday, August 6, 2021 at 04:00 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