ISLAMABAD, March 2, 2017: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan transacted most of Private Members agenda including adoption of a resolution demanding raise in Hajj quota for Balochistan, while lack of quorum led to early adjournment of sitting on Thursday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are key observations of the proceedings of second sitting of Assembly’s 37^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Balochistan Assembly met for three hours and 55 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1633 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for 21 minutes while rest of the proceedings was chaired by a member of Panel of Chairpersons.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for three hours and 34 minutes.
• Twenty-two lawmakers (32%) were present at the outset while only one lawmaker was observed to be present at the adjournment of sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, JUI-F, PML-Q and ANP were present during the proceedings.
• Two minority members also attended the sitting.
• Nine members applied for leave.

Output

• Jointly tabled by a JUI-F and PML-N female lawmakers, the House unanimously adopted a resolution urging the government to contact the federal government to put forward the demand for raise in the Hajj quota for Balochistan. Two lawmakers spoke on the resolution consuming six minutes of proceedings.
• Tabled by the Leader of Opposition, the Chair rejected a resolution after not being able to secure majority votes in its favor. The resolution was about making Urdu as official language. Five lawmakers shared their views on the resolution for 27 minutes.
• Another two private resolution that appeared on the agenda were not taken up by the House.

Representation and Responsiveness

• All five Starred Questions were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministers. The lawmaker also asked four Supplementary Questions.
• The House clubbed two Adjournment Motions (AMs) on the same subject and admitted it for two-hour discussion in next sitting. The motions were about discriminatory attitude of Law enforcement agencies against Pakhtuns during operations against terrorism in Sindh and Punjab. Nine lawmakers spoke on these motions consuming 58 minutes of the proceedings.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on 13 Points of Order consuming an hour and eleven minutes of the proceedings.
• A lawmaker belonging to JUI-F pointed out quorum at 2007 hours. The bells were rung for five minutes after which the proceedings remain suspended for 15 minutes. However, the quorum was found incomplete upon recount that led to the adjournment of the sitting.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Attendance of Members was not made 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.