ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Law Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Maula Bakhsh Chandio said on Thursday that repeated military interventions in the country were responsible for stunted growth of democratic institutions.

Addressing a roundtable conference organized by PILDAT here, Chandio said that the performance of Parliament reflected the combined performance of treasury and opposition benches.

He said the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was proud of the fact that for the first time the chairmanships of Public Accounts Committee and other standing committees were given to the opposition. The biggest achievement of the Parliament is revival of the 1973 Constitution in its original form, he added.

He said that 18th Constitutional Amendment had strengthened the federation through transferring powers to the provinces.

Though the people were still suffering problems but these will only be addressed through uninterrupted system of democracy in the country, he added.

Leader of the House in Senate Syed Nayyer Hussain Bokhari said that after devolution, the legislative business was far less at the federal level as many ministries were devolved to the provinces.

He said that political forces believed in law and all the constitutional departments had to work in their ambit. No unconstitutional act should be welcomed by the people, he added.

MNA Zahid Hamid appreciated PILDAT on behalf of Leader of opposition in National Assembly for compiling such a comprehensive report and said that the significance and magnitude of success of Public Accounts Committee was not highlighted as it should be in the report.

He said that Rs. 115.3 Billion were recovered by PAC in three years. He believed that appointing Leader of opposition as Chairman PAC was truly an unprecedented practice in Pakistan.

MNAs Aftab Shaban Merani, Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Humayun Saifullah Khan, Malik Amad Khan and Executive Director PILDAT Ahmed Bilal Mehboob also addressed the roundtable conference.