ISLAMABAD: A performance assessment of 102 senators by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) shows that MQM Senator retired Col Tahir Hussein Mashhadi has achieved a score of 95pc and has secured the first place with regards to performance.

Pildat is a think tank that focuses on political and public policy research and legislative strengthening.

The average score of senators is 41pc, the average attendance of senators in committee meetings is 51pc and the average attendance on plenary sessions of the Senate is 63.3pc, compared to 61pc in the National Assembly.

The methodology and framework for assessing the performance of 102 senators was indigenously developed. Data for preparing score cards was obtained from two main public sources which are the official website of the Senate of Pakistan and the ‘Report to the People of Pakistan’ produced by the Senate. Senators were also contacted to provide their updated educational and professional details.

The parameters used for ranking the senators were the number of committee memberships, the number of committees chaired, attendance in committee meetings, number of adjournment motions, number of resolutions, number of call attention motions and the number of questions raised. The number of private member bills introduced and the number of private member bills passed were also considered.

PPP Senator Sassui Palijo was ranked first among women senators with an overall score of 51pc and Federal Minister for Finance Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar came last at 40th position, with a score of 20pc.

PPP has the most senators among the top 15 position holders and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has the most number of senators among the top 15 position holders.

Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Senator Mohammad Usman Kakar ranked second with a score of 76pc, Mushahid Hussein Syed and Senator Seed Ghani ranked third with 73pc score, Senator Mohammad Talha Mehmood came fourth with 68pc score and Senators Nauman Wazir Khattak and Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini came fifth with a 66pc score each.

While senators from the federal capital and the three smaller provinces figure in the top five positions, none of the senators from Punjab made it to the top five.

According to a statement issued by Pildat, 102 senators have attained positions between one and 40. Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani and Deputy Chairman Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri were not included in the assessment as their powers and functions fifer from that of other members of the Senate.

Leader of the House Senator Raja Mohammad Zafarul Haq attained a score of 62pc and came eighth while Leader of the Opposition Aitezaz Ahsan scored 57pc and came tenth.

Federal Minister for Information Pervaiz Rasheed attained a score of 27pc and was placed at 36th position while Federal Minister for Human Rights Kamran Michael was placed at 37th position with a 24pc score.

Amir Jamaat-i-Islami Sirajul Haq attained a score of 63pc and was placed on seventh position while former Minister for Interior Rehman Malik stands at 28th position with a score of 36pc.

Senator Sherry Rehman stands at 29th position with a score of 25pc.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2016