Balochistan PA Meets for 15 Minutes

ISLAMABAD, December 15, 2018: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan did not take up any agenda on Saturday and was adjourned in honor of the deceased senator Sardar Azam Khan Musakhel, observers Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the first sitting of fifth session:

Members’ Participation

  • The Assembly met for 15 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1615 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
  • The Speaker chaired the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
  • The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
  • The nominated Leader of the Opposition was present during the sitting.
  • As many as 26 (40%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 36 (55%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of BNP-A, BNP-M, PkMAP, HAP, ANP and MMAP were present.
  • Two out of three minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
  • As many as four members applied for leave of absence.
  • Two newly elected lawmakers took oath of the membership and signed the roll of members.

Order and Institutionalization

  • A lawmaker raised a Point of Order consuming three minutes of the sitting. He highlighted the issue regarding the drought situation in the province.

Transparency

  • ‘Orders of the Day’ was not available on the website of the Assembly.
  • Attendance of Members was not made public.

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.