ISLAMABAD, Feb 09: Starting one hour behind schedule, the sixth sitting of the Balochistan Assembly’s 30^th session met for only 30 minutes. Less than 10 Members were present at the start and end of the sitting.

The sitting was adjourned after JWP MPA pointed out the lack of Quorum. At the start of the sitting, only seven Members were present and nine were there when it was adjourned.

Seven Points of Order consumed 20 minutes of the sitting time. However none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.

A Member of the JUI (Ideological) boycotted the sitting for five minutes against the killing of Maulana Abdul Ghani in Chaman.

The Chief Minster and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting. The parliamentary leader of the JUI (Ideological) attended the proceedings.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Balochistan Assembly met for 30 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1200 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1100 hours. The House proceedings started late by an hour.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting.
• The Chief Minster and the Leader of the Opposition were absent.
• Only the Parliamentary Leader of the JUI (Ideological) was present, while those of Like Minded Group, PML, ANP, BNPA, JUI, NP and PMLN were absent.
• Only 7 Members (11% of total Membership – 65) were present at the start and 11 (17%) when the sitting was adjourned.
• 11 Members submitted leave to be absent from the House.
• No minority Member was present.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House did not take up two Resolutions on the Order of the Day as the lack of Quorum was called.

Output

• No Bills appeared on the Orders of the Day.

Order and Institutionalization

• Seven Points of Order consumed 20 minutes of the sitting time. However, one of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• A Member of the JUI (Ideological) boycotted the sitting for five minutes against the killing of Maulana Abdul Ghani in Chaman.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The Quorum was pointed by one of the Legislators, as the session was prorogued.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Balochistan Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development (CPD), a member organization of FAFEN