ISLAMABAD, October 12, 2015: Starting 61 minutes behind the schedule, the Balochistan Assembly passed two bills and adopted one resolution during the last sitting of 21^st session on Monday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Low attendance of lawmakers persisted during the sitting as 28 (43%) lawmakers were present at the start and 24 (37%) at the time of adjournment. All three starred questions appearing on the agenda were taken up and lawmakers also asked three supplementary questions.

Two bills passed by the House included the Balochistan Private Educational Institutions (Promotion, Regulation and Registration) Bill 2015 and the Balochistan Kidney Center Quetta Bill 2015.

An adjournment motion (AM) admitted for discussion during third sitting to stop expulsion of Pashtoons from AJK was converted into a resolution and adopted by the House.  Two other resolutions on the agenda were not taken up which were about withdrawal of sales tax on coal and provision of gas in District Hernai.

An AM regarding submission of fake degrees by candidates for induction in Education Department was discussed in the House.  One lawmaker each of ANP, PkMAP and JUI-F spoke on it for 21 minutes while Advisor to Chief Minster on Education concluded debate on it during his 15-minute speech.

Following are some key observations of the assembly proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Balochistan Assembly met for two hours and 39 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1701 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• Twenty-eight (43%) lawmakers were present at the start and 24 (37%) at the end of the sitting.
• A maximum of 32 (49%) members attended the sitting.
• Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Opposition Leader was present for entire time.
• Parliamentary leaders of JUI-F, PkMAP and ANP attended the sitting.
• One minority member attended the sitting.
• Four members applied for leave. 

Output

• The Housed passed the Balochistan Private Educational Institutions (Promotion, Regulation and Registration) Bill 2015 and the Balochistan Kidney Center Quetta Bill 2015.
• The House adopted a resolution to stop expulsion of Pashtoons from AJK.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• All three questions appearing on the agenda were taken up. In addition, lawmakers raised three supplementary questions.
• An AM regarding submission of fake degrees by candidates for induction in Education Department was discussed in the House. One lawmaker each of ANP, PkMAP and JUI-F spoke on it for 21 minutes while Advisor to Chief Minster on Education concluded debate on it during his 15-minute speech.
• The House took up a privilege motion of a PML-N lawmaker about life threats to him and failure of government to provide security despite his repeated requests. The motion was referred to the relevant committee.

Order and Institutionalization 

• Ten points of order consumed 17 minutes of the sitting.
• A PML-N lawmaker walked out of the House at 1855 hours against attitude of the Chair and did not return till end of the sitting.

Transparency 

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on legislators’ attendance was not available to the observers and the 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.