ISLAMABAD, April 8, 2017: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan witnessed presentation of two Standing Committee reports, including one to insert new chapter for Zero Hour notices in the Rules of Procedure and adopted a joint resolution on Saturday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are key observations of the proceedings during third sitting of Assembly’s 38^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Balochistan Assembly met for two hours and 13 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1130 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the proceedings for 42 minutes while rest of the proceedings were chaired by a Member of Panel of Chairpersons.
• The Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition were absent.
• Twenty lawmakers (31%) were present at the outset and 16 (25%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of ANP, MWM and PML were present during the proceedings.
• Three minority members also attended the sitting.
• Eight members applied for leave.

Output

• The House adopted a joint resolution urging the government to ban use of polythene and plastic bags for serving food items. The resolution was adopted with amendments and 17 lawmakers shared their views consuming an hour and two minutes of the proceedings.
• Another joint resolution appearing on the agenda regarding provision of security to Quetta and other airports was withdrawn by its mover after assurance given by the Home Minister.
• A JUI-F lawmaker presented report of the Standing Committee on Excise and Taxation on the Balochistan Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
• Chairperson, Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges presented the committee report on proposed inclusion of a new chapter for ‘Zero Hour’ notices in Assembly Rules.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on 11 Points of Order consuming 39 minutes of the proceedings.
• A PML-N lawmaker staged a token (2 minutes) walkout against the attitude of the Chair for not giving him floor to raise a Point of Order.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Attendance of Members was not made 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.