ISLAMABAD, April 26, 2021: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan passed five government bills and discussed bomb blast at a hotel in Quetta, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Monday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 3rd sitting of the 36th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for three hours and 50 minutes.
• The sitting started at 02:30 pm against the scheduled time of 12:00 pm.
• The deputy speaker chaired the entire sitting in the absence of speaker.
• The leader of the house (chief minister) attended the sitting for thirty minutes.
• The leader of the opposition attended the entire sitting.
• As many as 27 (41 percent) legislators were present at the start and 7 (11 percent) at the end of the sitting.
• Two out of three minority member were present.
• The parliamentary leaders of HDP, MMAP, BNP-M, PTI, BAP and PKMAP attended the sitting.

Output

• The House passed five government bills including the Balochistan Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Balochistan Minimum Wages Bill, 2021; the Balochistan Bonded Labor (Abolition) Bill, 2021; the Balochistan Child Employment (Prohibition and Regulation) Bill, 2021 and the Balochistan Payment of Wages Bill, 2021. The reports of relevant standing committees on these bills were presented in the House..
• The House also witnessed introduction of four government bills, which were referred to the relevant standing committees. These bills were the Balochistan Shops and Establishment Bill, 2021; the Balochistan Industrial and Commercial Establishment (Standing Orders) Bill, 2021; the Balochistan Factories Bill, 2021 and the Balochistan Vaccination (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Twelve lawmakers participated in debate on an adjournment motion related to bomb blast at a hotel in Quetta on April 21, 2021. They spoke on it for two hours and three minutes, while the Minister for home affairs concluded debate on it.
• The Minister for revenue responded to a calling attention notice (CAN) regarding handing over unsettled land to indigenous tribes as per decision of Balochistan High Court.
• Another CAN on the agenda was deferred, which was related to lack of staff and other medical facilities at Civil Hospital Pishin.
• The House took up six out of ten starred questions, while lawmakers asked two supplementary questions as well.

  Order and Institutionalization

• The House was adjourned to meet again on Thursday, April 29, 2021 at 12:00 pm.

Transparency

• ‘List of Business’ 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