• Session Prorogued

ISLAMABAD, February 04, 2021: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan adopted three private members’ resolutions and deferred one-third agenda due to ministerial absence, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Thursday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the 4^th sitting of 32^nd session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for three hours and 41 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1704 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the sitting for two hours and 11 minutes while the remaining sitting was chaired by a member of panel of chairpersons.
• The Speaker did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) was not present.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for two hours and ten minutes.
• As many as nine MPAs (13%) were present at the outset and seven (10%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of MMAP, BNP-M, PKMAP, PTI and HDP attended the proceedings.
• Two out of three minority lawmakers were present.

 Output

• The House adopted three private members’ resolutions which demanded to submit compliance report on resolutions passed by the Provincial Assembly during the last two years, hand over a road of Quetta City to National Highway Authority and ensure retention of  quota for students of Balochistan in medical colleges of Punjab.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up four out of 11 starred questions while lawmakers also asked three supplementary questions.
• The House took up one out of four Call Attention Notices (CANs) regarding the regularization of contract teachers appointed in schools under Global Partnership Program.
• The Chair deferred three CANs due to ministerial absence.
• The House debated an adjournment motion regarding traffic accidents on Quetta-Karachi road and demanded its dualization. Eight members participated in debate on it for an hour and 15 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• Eight lawmakers spoke on points of order for an hour and 15 minutes.
• The Session was prorogued sine die.

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