ISLAMABAD, September 22, 2012: The Balochistan Assembly, which met for an hour and 55 minutes during the second sitting of the ongoing 33^rd session, witnessed low attendance of Members.

Fourteen MPAs were present at the outset while 16 were there when the sitting was adjourned. The House adopted a Resolution calling on the federal government that “under Article 245 of Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973 the Districts of Balochistan including Zhob, Qilla Saifullah, Sherani, Musakhel, Loralai, Barkahn, Kohlu, Dera Bugti and Dalbandin have been recognized as tribal areas, but these areas are still deprived of facilities. Hence like other tribal areas of the country these districts of Balochistan may also be facilitated and be given facility of registration of vehicles exempted from tax.”

Seven Points of Order consumed 30 minutes of the sitting time. None of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.

Members’ participation in House proceedings

• The Balochistan Assembly met for an hour and 55 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1625 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1600 hours. The proceedings started 25 minutes late.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the sitting. The Speaker was not present.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• Only the parliamentary leader of ANP was present.
• Fourteen (22%) Members were present at the outset while there were 16 (25%) at the end of the sitting. A maximum of 25 Members were present at one point of the sitting.
• Four Members applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Three Starred Questions was taken up and responded to by the relevant Minister.

Output

• The House adopted a Resolution calling on the federal government that “under Article 245 of Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973 the Districts of Balochistan including Zhob, Qilla Saifullah, Sherani, Musakhel, Loralai, Barkahn, Kohlu, Dera Bugti and Dalbandin have been recognized as tribal areas, but these areas are still deprived of facilities. Hence like other tribal areas of the country these districts of Balochistan may also be facilitated and be given facility of registration of vehicles exempted from tax.”

Order and institutionalization

• Seven Points of Order consumed 30 minutes. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts.

 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 Center for Peace and Development (CPD), a Member organization of FAFEN.