ISLAMABAD, August 10, 2020: The Balochistan Assembly took up most of its agenda on Monday and discussed an adjournment motion about situation at Pak-Afghan bordering area Chaman mainly used for trade and business activities, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the third sitting of 24^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for four hours and 36 minutes. However, the proceedings remained suspended for an hour and 24 minutes due to prayer break.
• The sitting started at 1735 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for three hours and 31 minutes while rest of the sitting was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
• As many as 16 MPAs (25%) were present at the outset and 29 (45%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of BNP-M, MMAP, HDP and PkMAP attended the proceedings.
• All three minority lawmakers were absent

Output

• Chairman Standing Committee on Local Government presented report on the Balochistan Housing and Urban Development  Bill, 2019 which was adopted by the House.
• Chairman Public Accounts Committee (PAC) presented report of PAC for the year 2017-18.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up seven out of 13 starred questions while remaining six questions were deferred due to absent of relevant movers and minister. In addition, lawmakers also asked 12 supplementary questions.
• The Chair admitted an adjournment motion for debate in the next sitting which was about law and order situation in Khuzdar.
• Five lawmakers participated in debate on an adjournment motion for an hour and 29 minutes. The motion was regarding impacts on trade and other activities after closure of Pak-Afghan Chaman border for more than four months due to coronavirus outbreak.

Order and Institutionalization

• Eight lawmakers spoke on points of order for 26 minutes.
• A BAP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 2041 hours but it was ignored by the Chair.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on August 12, 2020 (Wednesday) at 1600 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