FAFEN PARLIAMENT MONITOR

BALOCHISTAN ASSEMBLY 22nd Session, 6 November - 20 November 2015

FREE AND FAIR ELECTION NETWORK www.fafen.org

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

he 22nd Session of the Assembly remained heavily focused on the need for greater efforts by the provincial government Tto stir economic growth in the province through fiscal and non-fiscal measures for creating conductive business environment for investors and traders. Relaxation in levies and easy access to trade routes in the province were some of the recommendations that were floated by Members as the House debated relevant items on its agenda.

The 22nd Session comprised six sittings between November 6 and November 20 when it was prorogued. Marked by low attendance of Members, each sitting started 45 minutes behind the schedule on average and lasted two hours and 19 minutes. The longest sitting on November 14 lasted 2 hours and 35 minutes and the shortest sitting for 1 hour and 55 minutes on November 6, 2015.

The House passed Balochistan Wildlife (Protection Preservation, Conservation and Management) Amendment Act, 2015 that seeks to settle the modalities of transferring 9,000 acres of land to Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO). Introduced during the 2nd sitting by the Provincial Minister for Law, the House passed the bill after two minutes of debate during its 4th sitting.

Two other government bills – the Balochistan Sound System (Regulation) Bill, 2015 and the Balochistan Prohibition of Expressing Matters on Walls (Amendment) Bill, 2015 – were introduced during the 6th siting and On average, each referred to the relevant committees. sitting started 45 Of three Adjournment Motions that appeared on the agenda, only one was minutes behind the admitted by the Acting Speaker for a discussion. Moved by a Member belonging to ANP, the motion on the misuse of Balochistan quota in the schedule and lasted federal government was only debated by the House for eight minutes or six two hours and 19 percent of the sitting time. The ANP Member was of the view that fake domiciles were being used by individuals for seeking appointments at minutes.

1 higher posts in federal government departments.

The House adopted four of a total of 10 resolutions that appeared on the List of the Business without any debate. The four resolution called upon the provincial government: a. To withdraw sales tax on coal business, maximize benefits to farmers through Prime Minister's Kissan Package, fix price of `Sali Rice' at Rs. 1,000 per 40 kg, relax the custom duty as well as taxes for local importers and suspend the license of Total Parco Oil Company in case it winds up its operations in the province on the pretext of law and order. b. To ensure gas supply to Harnai district and its adjacent areas. c. To ensure the release of allocated funds in provincial budget for completion of route of Pak China Economic Corridor. d. To revise the import and export policy with Iran.

The House took up only five of a total of 29 questions. As many as 25 starred questions that appeared on the agenda are left unaddressed by the House due to absence of government representatives or their movers.

The participation of lawmakers remained low during the session as 18 of a total of 65 members did not participate in the proceeding. Seventy-five percent of female members submitted agenda items and participated in subsequent debates as compared to 72 percent male members. On The seat of Speaker average 23 lawmakers were observed to be present at the outset of each sitting and 19 at the end. Three minority members did not participate in the has been lying proceeding of the House. vacant after the Parliamentary leaders of PML and ANP were present in all sittings followed acceptance of by leaders of PML-N, MWM and JUI-F in four and PkMAP in three sittings. The Chief Minister (Leader of the House) attended three sittings and was Speaker's present through 42% of the session while the Leader of the Opposition was resignation on May 22, 2015.

2 present in four sitting and attended 49% of the proceeding.

The Deputy Speaker chaired the 82 percent of the session time while the Panel of Presiding Officers chaired the session in his absence. The seat of Speaker has been vacant after the acceptance of Speaker's resignation on May 22, 2015. The quorum was pointed out once during the 3rd sitting by female lawmaker belonging to JUI-F that led to the adjournment of the sitting as less than 25% lawmakers were present in the House the bells were rung for five minutes as required under the assembly rules.

The quorum was pointed out once in 3rd sitting of the session by JUI-F female lawmaker that led to the adjournment of sitting

3 1 Total Sitting Time Total Sitting Time 150 115 minutes minutes SESSION TIME & ATTENDANCE Delay Delay 50 SESSION TIME 45 minutes minutes KEY MEMBERS ATTENDANCE 20 November, 2015 Non-Government 6 November, 2015 Business

17 November, 2015 1st 6th 9 November, 2015 Total Time Delay 13 2nd Delay Hour SPEAKER DEPUTY SPEAKER 40 5th minutes 20 56 minutes Vacant minutes rd Total Sitting Time 3 Total Sitting Time 82% 5 th average time Iattended 154 4 minutes 14 November, 2015 12 November, 2015 115 Non-Government minutes Business

Delay Delay 65 55 CHIEF MINISTER LEADER OF OPPOSITION minutes minutes

42% 3 49% 4 Total Sitting Time Total Sitting Time average time Iattended average time Iattended 155 127 minutes minutes Panel of Chairpersons attended 6 sittings and chaired 5th sitting contributing 18% of the total sitting time.

4 MEMBERS ATTENDANCE 35 33 30 28 28 27 26 25 23 21 22 22 20 19 20 17 14

7

1st Sitting 2nd Sitting 3rd Sitting 4th Sitting 5th Sitting 6th Sitting

Not Not Not Not Not Not Attended Attended Attended Attended Attended Attended 46% 49% 65% 62% 66% 54%

Members At Outset Members At End Maximum Members

PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS ATTENDANCE

Engineer Zmarak Khan Sardar Akhter Jan Mengal Syed Raza Mohammad Raza Abdul Rahim Khan Tareen Sardar Jaffar Khan Mandokhail

ANP BNP MWM PkMAP PML-N PML 6 0 4 3 4 6 attended attended attended attended attended attended

5 MEMBERS PARTICIPATIONS 22 14 11 8 4 1 2 1 1 1 100% 100% 100% 100% 93%

59% 64% 50% 50% TOTAL MEMBERSHIP TOTAL TOTAL MEMBERSHIP TOTAL MEMBERSHIP TOTAL MEMBERSHIP TOTAL MEMBERSHIP TOTAL MEMBERSHIP TOTAL MEMBERSHIP TOTAL MEMBERSHIP TOTAL MEMBERSHIP TOTAL MEMBERSHIP TOTAL 0%

PML-N PkMAP NP JUI-F PMLANP BNP MWM BNP-A Independent

PARTICIPATING AND NON-PARTICIPATING MPs BY GENDER

FAFEN classifies members' participation in three categories; members submitting agenda on the List of Business; those participating in the on-floor debates and 28% 25% MPAs taking part in both activities. Given is the detail of members who have not participated in any way during the session.

72% 75% Non-Participated Members Participated Members

6 QUESTIONS 2

6th 1st 4 Total REPRESENTATION, 5 Not Taken Up Starred 5th RESPONSIVENESS AND 34 8 2nd Starred

GOVERNMENT 4th 3rd 6 Not Taken Up OVERSIGHT 7 Starred 7 7 Not Taken Up ADJOURNMENT MOTION 0 Starred Starred 5 7 Not Taken Up 7 Not Taken Up 0 Starred 1 Rejected Not Taken Up Total MINISTRY-WISE QUESTIONS 1 Not Taken Up 3 77 1 Debated 44 33 22 Illegal parking fees at parking areas in Quetta 11

Planning and S&GAD Mines & Health Education Public Health Local Irrigation Finance Communication Law and Order Development Minerals Engineering Government and Works Development and Rural Development Induction at higher posts in Federal departments on fake domiciles under quota of Balochistan Minister Minister Minister Minister Minister Minister Minister Minister Minister Minister 0 00 1 2 0 0 0 1 1 replied* replied* replied* replied* replied* replied* replied* replied* replied* replied* * replied on the floor of the house

7 3 NUMBER OF ISSUES RAISED THROUGH POs

ORDER AND INSTITUTIONALIZATION

POINTS OF ORDER

64 34 14 minutes 34 Governance 9 minutes 22 4 1st Business 6th 40 of the House Prayers & minutes Tributes 2nd 6

60 3rd 12 minutes NUMBER OF ISSUES RAISED THROUGH POs BY PARTY 4th 3

5th PkMAP JUI-F PML-N ANP NP MWM PML

3 5 25 minutes 135 minutes 15 15 13 6 5 3 3

8 DETAILS OF RESOLUTIONS RESOLUTIONS Withdrawal of sales tax on coal business 4 Gas supplies to Harnai District and its adjacent areas Release of funds for Pak China Economic Corridor To maximize the benefits of Prime Minister’s Package for 3 farmers Not Taken Up To sought relaxation in the custom duty and taxes for PARLIAMENTARY local importers Total To guarantee the functioning of Total Parco oil Company OUTPUT in the province 10 To revise the import and export policy with Iran to facilitate the traders of the province Supply of Natural gas to Harnai District LEGISLATION Functioning and regulation issues of Total Parco Oil Company 7 To assigning the construction work of roads to National Adopted Highway Authority (NHA) to assure standards. 1 PASSED DEBATE ON RESOLUTIONS (MINUTES)

Total PkMAP PkMAP PkMAP ANP JUI-F PML PML-N JUI-F 3 BILLS 37 28 23 21 19 17 14 12 minutes minutes minutes minutes minutes minutes minutes minutes

2 INTRODUCED Referred to standing committee Abdul Raheem Hamid Khan Syed Liaqat Ali Zmarak Khan Sheikh Jaffar Khan Abdul Kareem Jan Mohammad Jamali Abdul Wasay

PML-N JUI-F NP NP PkMAP PkMAP NP The Balochistan (Wildlife Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management) Amendment Bill 2015 11 9 6 5 5 4 3 The Balochistan Sound System (Regulation) Bill minutes minutes minutes minutes minutes minutes minutes 2015 The Balochistan Prohibition of Expressing Matters on Walls (Amendment) Bill 2015

Samina Khan Mufti Gulab Khan M. Khan Shahwani Mir Khalid Langov Obaidullah Jan Nasrullah Khan Dr. 9 About FAFEN

§ FAFEN is one of the most credible networks of civil society organizations working for strengthening citizens' voice and accountability in since 2006.

§ FAFEN has harnessed information technology for real-time monitoring, facilitation and technical backstopping of partners for effective and result- based program delivery.

§ FAFEN is the only civil society group to have been invited by the Judicial Commission to present the evidence of illegalities and irregularities documented through the course of General Elections 2013 Observation. The systemic and procedural issues identified by FAFEN have been acknowledged by the commission in its detailed findings.

§ FAFEN's recommendations for electoral reforms have contributed to the work of Parliamentary Committee for Electoral Reforms.

§ FAFEN's advocacy for parliamentary transparency, accountability and reforms has shaped public discourse on parliamentary reforms. Improved citizens' access to parliamentary information including daily public release of parliamentarians' attendance records can be directly attributed to FAFEN's work.

§ FAFEN deployed 18,000 and 40,000 non-partisan and trained observers for the systematic observation of general election 2008 and 2013, respectively, largest citizens' observation ever undertaken in Pakistan.

§ FAFEN's evidence and recommendations for reforms have improved the quality of public and political discourse on elections, its issues and need for reforms. Leading political parties and media houses extensively use FAFEN's election findings and analysis to build a case for reforms.

§ With around 14,000 followers on Twitter and around 65,000 on Facebook, FAFEN is considered one of the most reliable sources of electoral and House 145, Street 37 parliamentary information in the country. F-10/1, Islamabad-Pakistan Ph: 051-8466232 www.openparliament.pk I www.fafen.org I www.parliamentfiles.com Fax: 051-8466233