PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly passed the KP Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2019 on Tuesday while the government introduced an amendment to the KP Local Government Act, 2013 in the House, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

The Assembly met for an hour and two minutes. The sitting started at 1440 hours against the scheduled time of 1330 hours. The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present. The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 37 minutes. As many as 45 MPAs (36%) were present at the outset while 38 (31%) at the adjournment of the sitting. The parliamentary leaders of ANP and PML-Q attended the proceedings. As many as two out of three minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

The Minister for Local Government introduced the Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2019. Sponsored by the PTI lawmakers, the House unanimously passed three resolutions condemning the incident of terrorism in Sri Lanka, and recommending the government to take steps for prevention of child marriages and provide Sehat Insaf Cards to the staff of the Provincial Assembly Secretariat. Moved by the Minister for Law, the House passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill 2019.

The House did not take up two Call Attention Notices (CANs) due to absence of the movers. The House did not hold a scheduled discussion on the return of overseas Pakistanis belonging to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from Middle Eastern countries and its impact on the community. As many as two lawmakers spoke on Points of Order consuming 20 minutes of the proceedings.

The opposition lawmakers walked out of the proceedings at 1517 hours against the government for not providing development funds to lawmakers belonging to southern districts of the province. The protesting lawmakers did not return to the proceedings.

The House was adjourned to meet again on April 24, 2019 (Wednesday) at 1330 hours.