February 25, 2006	Saturday	Muharram 26, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 24: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) director Alyson Bailes Friday called on Senate Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro. During the meeting, the Senate chairman gave a brief overview of the composition of the Senate, its working, the procedure for election of its members and the process of legislation.

He told the Sipri director that democratic institutions in Pakistan were functioning normally.

Mr Soomro said the main purpose behind the creation of the Senate was to give equal representation to all the federating units since the membership of the National Assembly was based on the population of each province.

The Senate, he said, balanced the inequality in the representation and dispelled any doubts regarding deprivation and exploitation of the smaller provinces.

Replying to a question, the Senate chairman said the cabinet ministers were invariably parliamentarians and 20 per cent of the cabinet members were taken from the upper house in line with the provision of the constitution.

Mr Soomro said the standing committees of the Senate were functioning smoothly and these not only facilitated legislation but also were effectively monitoring the working of relevant ministries/departments.

Alyson Bailes said that she was delighted to see that the democratic structure of Pakistan was developing on sound lines.

She said it was a healthy democratic practice to induct the parliamentarians as cabinet members unlike some European countries where non-elected members were taken as ministers.

Institute of Regional Studies Islamabad President Maj-Gen (retired) Jamshed Ayaz Khan was also present on the occasion.