ISLAMABAD, March 09, 2015: The Balochistan Assembly discussed law and order in the province during the 6^th sitting of its ongoing 16^th session and passed a bill relating to printing and recording of the Holy Quran amid low attendance of lawmakers, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet.

The sitting started 52 minutes behind the schedule with 20 lawmakers (31%) present at the start and 25 (38%) at the time of adjournment. The Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.

Introduced by Advisor to Chief Minister on Education, the House passed Balochistan Holy Quran (Printing and Recording) Bill 2015.

The House did not take up Balochistan Public Service Commission (Amendment) Bill 2015 on the request of Minister for Law.

Following are some key observations of the proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Balochistan Assembly met for an hour and 51 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1652 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• Twenty lawmakers (31%) were present at the start of the sitting and 25 (38%) at the time of adjournment.
• A maximum of 30 (46%) members were present at the time of adjournment.
• A member of panel of Chairpersons chaired the entire sitting in the absence of Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
• The Leader of the House and Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.
•  The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, PML, JUI-F, ANP and BNP attended the sitting.
• One minority member was present.
• Five members applied for leave.

Output

• Introduced by Advisor to Chief Minister on Education, the House passed Balochistan Holy Quran (Printing and Recording) Bill 2015.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House had a discussion on law and order in the province which was participated by four lawmakers. BNP lawmaker spoke on it for 26 minutes followed by one lawmaker each of JUI-F, ANP and PkMAP for 16, eight and three minutes respectively.
• All four starred questions appearing on the agenda were taken up and lawmakers asked five supplementary questions.

Order and Institutionalization

• No point of order was raised during the sitting.
• No protests/walkouts/boycotts were witnessed.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on legislators’ attendance was not available to the observers and the public.

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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.