ISLAMABAD, April 2nd: The seventh sitting of Balochistan Assembly’s 31st session, starting 30 minutes behind schedule, met for only 25 minutes on Monday.

A total of 17 Members were present at the outset of the sitting while 20 were there when it was adjourned. 

The first and second biannual monitoring reports on the implementation of National Finance Commission (NFC) Award were presented in the House.

Seven Points of Order consumed 15 minutes of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.

The parliamentary leaders of the BNPA, PML, JUI (Ideological) and PMLN attended the proceedings.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Balochistan Assembly met for 25 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1630 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1600 hours. The House proceedings started late by 30 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of the BNPA, JUI (Ideological) PMLN and PML were present, while those of Like Minded Group, ANP, JUI and NP were absent.
• Seventeen Members (26% of total Membership – 65) were present at the start and 20 (29%) when the sitting was adjourned.
• Three minority Members was present.
• Fifteen Members applied for leave to be absent.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Question Hour was not held.

Output

• No Bills appeared on the Orders of the Day.
• The 1st and 2nd biannual monitoring reports on the implementation of National Finance Commission (NFC) Award were presented to the House

Order and Institutionalization

• Seven Points of Order consumed 15 minutes of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.

• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts during the sitting.

 Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.

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