DURING the recent budget session in parliament, one member of the National Assembly (MNA) rightly stood up to question why senators were made federal ministers when they have neither been elected nor are they answerable to the general public because they do not have any specific constituency.

It has been observed that this practice has been irritatingly common in Pakistan, and has nothing to do with any particular government. It appears that the Senate is the easiest way to become a minister if one is in the good books of party leadership.

Even those who are rejected in the general elections are first made senators and later ministers. There are relevant examples even in today’s political setup.

Those who lost their electoral battles now continue to enjoy elevated status in the government simply because they earned a Senate nomination from the party leadership. Since the senators are handpicked and have no public represen-tation, it only makes sense to do away with the practice, or to at least have some kind of formula controlling the size of the federal cabinet’s Senate component.

Khawaja Tajammul Hussain
Karachi

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2026