ISLAMABAD, April 5^th: The eighth sitting of Balochistan Assembly’s 31st session, starting 32 minutes behind schedule, met only for 53 minutes on Thursday.

A total of 14 Members were present at the outset of the sitting while 16 were there when it was adjourned.

The House adopted a Resolution calling the federal government to reduce the fares of trains to Balochistan.

Three Points of Order consumed 10 minutes of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.

The parliamentary leaders of the PML and JUI (Ideological) attended the proceedings. The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Balochistan Assembly met for 53 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1632 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1600 hours. The House proceedings started late by 32 minutes.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the sitting.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of the JUI (Ideological) and PML were present, while those of BNPA, PMLN Like Minded Group, ANP, JUI and NP were absent.
• Fourteen Members (22% of total Membership – 65) were present at the start and 16 (25%) when the sitting was adjourned.
• Three minority Members was present.
• Four Members applied for leave to be absent.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Question Hour was not held.

Output

• No Bills appeared on the Orders of the Day.
• The House adopted a Resolution calling on the federal government to reduce the fares of trains to Balochistan.

Order and Institutionalization

• Three Points of Order consumed 10 minutes of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.

• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts during the sitting.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Balochistan Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development (CPD), a member organization of FAFEN