ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani said on Monday that if parliament and provincial assemblies asserted their due constitutional space, it would bring about positive results for democracy in the country.

“If we abdicate our space, then other stakeholders will enter the parliamentary domain as and when they please,” Mr Rabbani said while talking to a delegation of chairpersons of committees, members and secretariat officials of the Balochistan Assembly here on Monday, according to an official statement issued by the Senate Secretariat.

The delegation was led by Balochistan Assembly Speaker Rahila Hameed Durrani.

The Senate chairman regretted that the country’s legislature had become the weakest of the three links in the trichotomy of powers provided for in the Constitution, and that its mandate was often overstepped by the other two pillars.

Stressing the importance of maintaining linkage between the House of Federation and federating units, he said proper mechanism for institutional linkages could help lawmakers and secretariats share their experiences — which would help both sides learn and engage in parliamentary practices. He added that the committees system encapsulated the spirit of the parliamentary form of government, as it was an extension of the House.

The Balochistan Assembly speaker informed the Senate chairman that a council of chairpersons committee had been set up in the provincial assembly along the pattern of the Senate. She also sought advice in formulating procedure of following up on committees’ recommendations.

During the interactive session, members of the Balochistan Assembly, mostly chairpersons of committees, discussed issues faced in the provincial assembly and their possible solutions.

Mr Rabbani lauded the efforts of the Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services for arranging a workshop for members of the Balochistan Assembly, with emphasis on how committees could be made effective.

He directed the Senate Secretariat to devise a mechanism to improve interaction between the chairpersons of the committees of provincial assemblies, particularly Balochistan, and those of the Senate standing committees to learn from each others’ experiences and improve parliamentary practices.

The meeting was attended among others by several MPAs including Nasrullah Khan Zayray, Zmarak Khan, Agha Syed Liaquat Ali, Manzoor Ahmed Kakar, Dr Shama Ishaq Baloch, Dr Rukaiya Saeed Hashmi, William John Barkat, Spozmai Achakzai, Hussan Bano, Arifa Siddique, Anita Irfan and other officials of the Balochistan Assembly.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2017