• Session Prorogued

ISLAMABAD, February 27, 2018: The Balochistan Assembly on Tuesday witnessed introduction of two bills which were referred to the relevant committee for further consideration, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the second (last) sitting of the Assembly’s 49^th session:

 Members’ Participation 

• The Balochistan Assembly met for an hour and 11 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1719 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Chief Minister attended the entire sitting.
• The Opposition Leader did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 31 lawmakers (48%) were present at the outset and 25 (38%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of NP, PkMAP, MWM and ANP were present during the proceedings.
• One minority member attended the sitting.
• Four members applied for leave.

Output

• The House witnessed introduction of two bills including the Mir Chakar Khan Rind University Bill, 2018 and the Balochistan University of Engineering and Technology Khuzdar Bill, 2018. Both bills were referred to the relevant committee for further consideration.
• Three reports – two of Standing Committee on Social Welfare and one of Standing Committee on Education – were presented in the House.
• A report of Standing Committee on S&GAD and Interprovincial coordination was deferred.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up four out six starred questions on the agenda while two questions were deferred.

Order and Institutionalization

• Two points of order consumed three minutes of the proceedings.
• PkMAP lawmakers walked out of the House at 1736 hours over their reservations on the name of Mir Chakar Khan Rind University. They did not return to the House till adjournment of the sitting at 1830 hours.

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.