ISLAMABAD, May 28, 2021: The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) transacted two thirds agenda and adopted six resolutions on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are the key observations of the House proceedings during the third sitting of the 18th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for four hours and 30 minutes while the sitting remained suspended for an hour and ten minutes due to prayer break.
• The sitting started at 11:10 am against the scheduled time of 10:00 am.
• The speaker chaired the entire sitting while the deputy speaker was also present.
• The leader of the House (chief minister) was not present.
• The opposition leader attended the entire sitting.
• As many as 50 (34 percent) legislators were present at the start and 40 (28 percent) at the end of the sitting.
• Three out of four minority members were present.
• The parliamentary leaders of MMAP and PML-N attended the sitting.

Output

• Tabled by Minister for law, the House adopted a resolution regarding establishment of Ulema and Mashaikh Council at Provincial and District level to promote sectarian harmony in the country.
• The House also adopted five supplementary resolutions demanding to remove Neelum Jhelum surcharge from electricity bills, provide distance allowance to teachers of Swat, pay stipend to doctors of physical therapy during their house jobs, declare Hindko as parliamentary language after amendment in Assembly’s Procedure and Conduct of Business Rules and resolve payment issues against land acquired by a housing society in Peshawar. These resolutions were sponsored by MMAP, ANP, PPPP and PTI lawmakers.

• Minister for law introduced the KP Probation and Parole Bill, 2021.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up two starred questions out of four while no supplementary question was asked.
• Sponsored by a MMAP lawmaker, the Chair admitted an adjournment motion for debate regarding transparency of National Testing Service.
• The House took up a calling attention notice (CAN) regarding non-completion of Hydel Power Stations in PK-10, Upper Dir-I.
• The House deferred another CAN due to the absence of relevant minister which was about restoration of sacked employees of Frontier Provincial Cooperative Bank.
• The House debated an adjournment motion regarding Revenue Department’s control on public lands in Chitral, Lower Dir and Upper Dir districts. As many as six lawmakers – PTI (four) and MMAP (two) – spoke on it for an hour and 10 minutes.
• The House deferred discussions on Chashma right bank canal and forthcoming budget.

Order and Institutionalization

• The opposition members belonging to newly merged districts of KP protested during the entire sitting against non-allocation of funds for their areas.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Monday, May 31, 2021 at 02:00 pm.

Transparency

• ‘List of Business’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• The attendance of lawmakers was not available to the observers and media.

This daily factsheet is based on the observation of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly proceedings conducted online by United Rural Development Organization (URDO) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions excepted