Balochistan PA Takes Up Entire Agenda, Adopts Four Resolutions

ISLAMABAD, February 21, 2020: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan took up entire Private Members’ agenda and adopted four resolutions on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during second sitting of the 20^th session:

 Members’ Participation

• The House met for three hours and 35 minutes, however, the proceedings remained suspended for 34 minutes due to prayer break.
• The sitting started at 1652 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for 36 minutes while rest of the proceedings was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for an hour and two minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
• As many as 14 MPAs (22%) were present at the outset and ten (15%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of BAP, PkMAP, BNP-M and MMAP attended the proceedings.
• All three minority lawmakers attended the proceedings.

Output

• The House adopted four resolutions moved by private members. These resolutions demanded the government to overcome unemployment, provide basic facilities in public housing societies developed by Quetta Development Authority, construct two-lane road between Mastung and Quetta and comply with the decision of Islamic Ideological Council regarding use of proper religious words in curriculum and textbooks of all educational institutions.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up four out of 16 starred questions during the question hour while lawmakers asked six supplementary questions as well.
• The House took up two Call Attention Notices regarding payment against land acquired for extension of roads in Quetta and issues faced by employees and students of Bolan University of Medical & Health Sciences, Quetta. Ten lawmakers spoke on these CANs for 37 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• As many as 12 lawmakers spoke on Points of Order consuming 55 minutes of the proceedings.
• Two lawmakers on reserved seats for minorities walked out of the proceedings for 13 minutes against the alleged discrimination by the government in funds’ distribution process among MPAs.
• An MMAP lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1626 hours but the Chair ignored the call for quorum.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on February 24, 2020 (Monday) at 1100 hours.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Attendance of the 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

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