ISLAMABAD, August 13, 2015: The Balochistan Assembly could not take up any of the questions on its agenda as the relevant minister was not present for the sitting on Thursday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

The House passed two bills which included the Balochistan Hotels Restriction (Security) Bill 2015, and the Balochistan Rented Building Restriction (Security) Bill 2015.

The sitting started 72 minutes behind the schedule with 24 lawmakers (37%) present at the start and 22 (34%) at the time of adjournment. The House adopted three resolutions demanding the judicial inquiry into child abuse cases in Kasur, implementation on Prime Minister’s special package for Chaghi announced after nuclear explosion in 1998 and rehabilitation of families in respectable manner after demolition of their houses in sector I-11 Islamabad.

Following are some key observations of the assembly proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Balochistan Assembly met for two hours and 33 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1712 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• 24 lawmakers (37%) were present at the start and 22 (34%) at the end of the sitting.
• A maximum of 32 (49%) members attended the sitting.
• The entire sitting was chaired by Deputy Speaker.
• The Chief Minister attended the entire sitting while the Opposition Leader was not present.
• Only the parliamentary leaders of PkMAP attended the sitting.
• Two minority members attended the sitting.
• Six members applied for leave.

Output

• The House adopted three resolutions demanding the judicial inquiry into child abuse cases in Kasur, implementation on Prime Minister’s special package for Chaghi announced after nuclear explosion in 1998 and rehabilitation of families in respectable manner after demolition of their houses in sector I-11 Islamabad.
• The House also passed two bills which included the Balochistan Hotels Restriction (Security) Bill 2015, and the Balochistan Rented Building Restriction (Security) Bill 2015.

Representation and Responsiveness

•  The question hour was not held due to the absence of Minister for Public Health Engineering.
• The Chair admitted an Adjournment Motion regarding non-serious attitude of government in negotiations with traders on the issue of withholding tax.
• An AM regarding rehabilitation of families after demolition of their houses in sector I-11 Islamabad was converted into resolution as demanded by the lawmakers. Three lawmakers from PkMAP and one each from JUI-F and PML-N participated in debate on the AM for 27 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• Seven points of order consumed 32 minutes (21%) of the sitting.
• No protests/boycotts/walkouts 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.