ISLAMABAD, March 24: The fourth sitting of Balochistan Assembly’s 31st session, starting 55 minutes behind schedule, met for an hour and 17 minutes on Saturday.

The sitting witnessed low attendance as 20 Members were present at the outset and 15 when it was adjourned.

Eleven Points of Order consumed 60 minutes of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.

The Chief Minster did not attend the sitting.

The parliamentary leaders of the BNPA, JUI and ANP attended the proceedings.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Balochistan Assembly met for an hour and 17 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1655 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1600 hours. The House proceedings started late by 55 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• Only the Parliamentary Leaders of the BNPA, ANP and JUI were present, while those of Like Minded Group, PML, JUI (Ideological), NP and PMLN were absent.
• Twenty Members (30% of total Membership – 65) were present at the start and 15 (23%) when the sitting was adjourned.
• Two minority Members were present.
• Five Members applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

• All four questions on the agenda were taken up and responded by the relevant Ministry. Additionally, a total of eight Supplementary questions were asked.
• An Adjournment Motion about smuggling of livestock was raised by a PML legislator. The debate on the motion is likely to start from Monday.

Output

• No Bills appeared on the Orders of the Day.

Order and Institutionalization

• Eleven Points of Order consumed 60 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 Quorum, visibly lacking at various stages of the sitting, was not pointed by any of the legislators.

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