ISLAMABAD: Former speaker National Assembly Syed Fakhar Imam has said Pakistan had yet to reach that point where the Parliament is looked as the centre of power and only the parliamentarians themselves can do it.

He said though Pakistan has had problems in the past with regards to its democratic history, it was time the MNAs and senators belonging to both treasury and opposition benches resolved to make Parliament the most powerful institution in the country.

“Pakistan will be considered a respectable country if the parliamentarians stand up and stop relying on secretaries and bureaucrats in policy making,” Mr Imam said.

He was speaking at the launch of the ‘Score Card’ on the second parliamentary year of the current National Assembly.

The score card was released at a roundtable held on Wednesday by Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat), which highlighted the performance indicators of the National Assembly during the period June 1, 2014 and May 31, 2015.

It was pointed out that the parliament itself was an all parties conference (APC) and holding an APC outside the parliament showed that the parliament was an ineffective body.

Pildat’s score card notes that the second year of the National Assembly had shown 12 per cent decrease in sittings, 13 per cent decrease in session hours, 27 per cent decrease in passing of bills, 50 per cent decrease in ‘Questions Answers’.

However, the attendance of the prime minister in the second year of the current National Assembly was five times more than he did in the first parliamentary year. The prime minister attended the parliament in 33 sessions.

The roundtable suggested that certain reforms including the role of committees should be enhanced and the time for budget session should be increased.

It was suggested that there should be a ‘Weekly Question’ time for the prime minister to respond to the house.

There has to be reforms in method of submission of ‘Questions’ and response time by the government.

Some key suggestions made by Syed Fakhar Imam included establishment of a register to note the ‘Members’ Interest’ and business so that conflict of interest can be determined by their voting in any bill.

He also said that the legislation should be processed only through committees, attendance record of MNAs should be made public and the members’ voting record should be registered and made public.

Mr Fakhar Imam suggested the MNAs, many for the first time in the NA, ensure their active presence in the house and pave way for proactive policy making role.

He lamented the fact that the 17, 18 and 19th Amendments to the Constitution were passed after just two days of debate.

“On such major issues, the Parliament is expected to work day and night,” he said.

“What makes a Parliament successful is its freedom of speech, therefore, all the Parliamentarians including women and minorities, must be given a fair chance to contribute and in fact be encouraged to participate.”

MNA Syed NaveedQamar of Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) said that two most crucial aspects of the Parliament’s performance are the Question Hour, and the legislative activity.

“During the 2nd Parliamentary year, both aspects were very weak,” he said.

The declining interest by parliamentarians in the Question Hour is due to lack of availability of ministers, often even with a minister present, they will not answer Questions and instead defer it to their staff members which is a violation of rules.

While MNA Shah Mahmood Qureshi, of Pakistan Tehtik-i-Insaf (PTI), said the performance of the National Assembly was determined by the attitude of the ruling party.

It is a common perception that major decisions are made outside the Parliament, which reduces the Assembly’s credibility and role.

He regretted that the ruling party did not take into account the Opposition’s opinion regarding the budget despite eight days of debate.

On the other hand Muhammad Tallal Chaudhry of PML-N argued that the APCs served an important purpose of achieving political consensus which was difficult to reach within the parliamentary groups.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2015

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