ISLAMABAD: Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani on Thursday said the parliamentary history of Pakistan remained unpleasant due to the frequent derailment of democracy which created a distance between the citizens and their representatives.

He was speaking at a ceremony held to launch the revamped website of the Senate and the updated status of “Restoration of majesty and transparency in the parliament” project.

“The poor and the working class will never stand up to defend the parliamentary democracy unless they have the feeling of ownership of the parliament and are convinced that it will stand up to defend them. Right now the downtrodden segment of society is not prepared to defend the parliament,” he said.

About the new features of the website, the Senate chairman said it was aimed to enhance connectivity, give more accessibility to the people and make the house more open and transparent.

He said salaries, allowances, perks and privileges of the chairman, deputy chairman, leader of the house, leader of the opposition and senators had been placed on the website.

The attendance of the members in the house and committees would also be available on the website. He said the implementation of decisions of the house had always remained an area of concern. The Senate Rules have been amended to ensure that the ministers concerned appeared before the house and reported all matters referred to them by the house.

He said the rules had been amended to make the functioning of the Senate more sustainable.

Mr Rabbani said a public petition table had been established within the Senate Secretariat and its response was overwhelming.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play