PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly outperformed the three other provincial assemblies in Pakistan in terms of transparency and access to information between 2018 and 2023, according to the findings of a comparative analysis by the think tank Pildat.
The Pildat or Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency shared its findings of the measure of the performance of last elected provincial legislatures in a press release on Thursday, stating that the KP Assembly scored the highest — 8.5 of 11 — in terms of transparency on access to information.
It was the only one that provided the live telecast of assembly proceedings, it said, adding that while the live broadcast was initiated by the Punjab Assembly in 2002, the provincial legislature suspended it in 2021 and did not revive the practice.
The Punjab Assembly scored 7 out of 11, even though it was the only legislature that provided a complete record of the attendance of parliamentarians.
The third-ranked assembly on this scale was Balochistan’s legislature with a score of 6.5 while the Sindh Assembly was at the lowest tier, having a score of 5.5.
The Pildat also noted in its press release that the Balochistan Assembly was the only one that completed its five-year term on August 12 while the Punjab Assembly was dissolved prematurely on January 14, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on January 18 and Sindh Assembly on August 11.
It said the Sindh Assembly held the most number of sittings at 326 during the five-year period, convening 65 sessions per year on average. Meanwhile, the Punjab Assembly met for 274 days, holding 62 sittings per year on average. –Agencies
