ISLAMABAD: Former parliamentarians on Thursday urged parliament to assert itself and give up unnecessary blame games and mudslinging.

The MPs were speaking at the first meeting of the Former Parliamentarians Forum, at the Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services (Pips). A similar forum has also been established by the Senate, made up of an equal number of former and sitting senators.

Syed Nusrat Ali Shah, elected to the National Assembly from NA-55 (Sargodha) in 1985, told Dawn that although he was elected as an independent because he contested a non-party election, at the time politicians had the courage to give their independent opinions.

“Now they toe the party line and cannot dare deviate from it,” he said, recalling: “When Mian Nawaz Sharif wanted to pass the 14th Amendment, there were 18 members of the party including me who played a role to neutralise the amendment.”

The 14th Amendment, passed in 1997, ensured strict party discipline and empowered party leaders to dismiss any of their legislators if they voted against the party.

Mr Shah said parliamentarians were far more vocal in the past and parliament was not active than it is today.

“Moreover, in the past the majority of members were from the middle class, but now the majority of parliamentarians are very rich,” he said.

Mian Nasir Ali Baloch, who was also elected 1985 and served as education minister, said it was unfortunate that parliamentarians had devalued themselves.

“In 1970, when I was a member of the Punjab Assembly, an MPA called another member a liar. The remarks trigged unrest in the assembly and after a long debate it was decided that the members should have said he was not speaking the truth. Today all the values have changed and parliamentarians criticise each other for the sake of criticism,” he said.

The forum of parliament should not be used to criticise opponents, said Nazeer Ahmed Khan, elected in 1993 as Jamaat-i-Islami’s candidate in Daska.

Former MNA Sheikh Aftab Ahmed said he was disappointed by MNA’s attitudes.

“Government members should be submissive rather than aggressive. Moreover, they have more patience because they have to run the house.

“Moreover, both the government and opposition should run the house with understanding and try to deliver the nation rather that criticising each other,” he said.

Former MNA Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said that government and opposition were two tyres of one vehicle and parliament cannot be run without an opposition.

There are a number of present and former parliamentarians at the event, including Ayaz Sadiq, Khursheed Shah, Samina Khalid Ghurki, Farooq Sattar, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Zamarud Khan, Syed Nasir Shah and others.

National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser said former parliamentarians are an asset which can be utilised for socioeconomic development and appreciated their role and contribution for institutional building and to uplift the image of Pakistan.

He said the experience and wisdom of former parliamentarians should be used to harmonise relations with other nations and urged former parliamentarians to work in the public interest beyond their political affiliations.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2019