ISLAMABAD, March 10, 2015: The Balochistan Assembly winded up debate on law and order during 7^th sitting of its ongoing 16^th session on Tuesday and passed a resolution to carry out necessary legislation for printing and publication of laws from private persons, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet.

The sitting started 45 minutes behind the schedule with 15 lawmakers (23%) present at the start and 22 (34%) at the time of adjournment. The Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.

The House deferred the Balochistan Children Welfare and Protection Bill 2015 as a PML-N lawmaker demanded more time to go through the bill.

Following are some key observations of the proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Balochistan Assembly met for an hour and 22 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1645 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• Fifteen lawmakers (23%) were present at the start of the sitting and maximum 22 (34%) at the time of adjournment.
• A member of panel of Chairpersons chaired the entire sitting in the absence of Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
• The Leader of the House and Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.
•  The parliamentary leaders of JUI-F and ANP attended the sitting.
• One minority member was present.
• Four members applied for leave.

Output

• Tabled by the Advisor to Chief Minister for Education, the House passed a resolution to carry out necessary legislation for printing and publication of laws of Pakistan, including Balochistan from private persons.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Three NP lawmakers took part in the discussion on law and order in the province for 29 minutes and one PkMAP legislator for six minutes.
• The Provincial Minister for Interior and Tribal Affairs winded up the debate on law and order during his 16-minute speech.

Order and Institutionalization

• Seven points of order consumed ten minutes of the proceedings’ time.
• No protests/walkouts/boycotts were witnessed.

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