When the Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh Assemblies were dissolved on Sunday, on the completion of their five-year term, they did not have much to show by way of legislative accomplishments, with the exception of Punjab Assembly.
The NWFP legislature - dissolved earlier on October 10 amid a raging controversy and confusion concerning its role in the presidential election - had made no significant legislative contribution, either. The one big legislative measure for which the MMA, dominating the Frontier legislature with a comfortable majority, liked to claim credit was the Hasba Bill.
Which easily qualifies to earn the distinction of being the outgoing assemblies' most contested legislative proposal. Many people continue to draw satisfaction from the fact that the bill did not get very far due to the legal challenges and the countrywide criticism it faced for being both legally flawed and socially retrogressive.
So far as the Balochistan Assembly was concerned, its tenure coincided with a particularly rough time in the context of peace in the province and also its relations with the Centre. The PML-Q led ruling alliance, which included the MMA, failed to make any sort of mark on the assembly's legislative record.
By and large, it remained a quiet bystander while outside the assembly the nationalist groups and parties battled with the Centre over vital issues, and the latter made important decisions with regard to whatever developmental activity was to take place in the province.
The ruling party in Punjab, drawing its strength from an alliance of nine like-minded groups and parties, deserves credit for having accomplished a substantial amount of legislative business. During its five years of existence, the Punjab Assembly passed as many as 83 bills and 74 resolutions regarding various issues of public import.
No wonder much activity is in evidence in different fields such as health care, education, infrastructure, and environment. The provincial executive did earn its share of criticism for various acts of omission and commission, yet it deserves appreciation for taking a number of developmental initiatives.
Unfortunately for Sindh, much of the time internal squabbling and turf battles in the ruling alliance kept the provincial assembly from undertaking any meaningful legislative work. Cobbled together by the establishment's political engineers, the two major coalition partners, the PML-Q and the MQM, were constantly at loggerheads with one another.
The Assembly saw leader of the house change early on, but that did not help build a spirit of cooperation between the two major coalition partners. At one point last year they fought openly and bitterly, threatening to bring down the entire edifice the powers-that-be had built so assiduously. The only, albeit unsavoury, distinction of the assembly's term was that of passing resolutions in support of General Musharraf's insistence to retain his military uniform for an indefinite period.
The fact that the alliances that led the outgoing assemblies were mostly the outcome of political engineering rather than partnerships between natural allies, is largely to blame for their poor performances. One can only hope the upcoming elections will be free from such interference and the political and legislative processes they set in motion will throw up only genuine political players who will work in the best public interest.
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