'Building legislative capacity is our prime objective,'Executive Director, PIPS

Mahmood Saleem Mahmood joined civil service in 1974. Over his 36-year public career, he has worked in senior positions in organisations like FBR, CDA, FIA, PM secretariat and the President House. In the last ten years of his service, he served in different top administrative posts such as Secretary National Assembly, Secretary Women Development, Secretary Health, and Secretary Petroleum. Following his retirement in 2010, Mr. Mahmood was appointed member of the federal services tribunal for nearly two years. A recipient of various foreign trainings and certifications, Mr. Mahmood has represented Pakistan on numerous international fora like the United Nations, Common Wealth Associations, SAARC, and Inter Parliamentary Unions. He has master's degrees in Law, Administrative Sciences, and Political Science from Punjab University, besides an MSc in Strategic Studies from National Defence University.
Following are selected excerpts from BR Research's sit-down in Islamabad with Mr. Mahmood, who joined the institute last month:
BR Research: Please tell us briefly about the mandate of Pakistan Institute for the Parliamentary Services (PIPS)?
Mahmood Saleem: PIPS is the exclusive first of its kind institution to promote research, provide training and facility of information to Parliamentarian, at the National Assembly, at Senate as well as all four Provincial Assemblies. It is a young organisation, established after the passage of an Act of Parliament in December, 2008. The Institute is required by law to provide various services to honourable parliamentarians (assembly and senate members) and functionaries (parliament staff).
First is the "legislative services". Every year, we conduct training courses in various aspects of legislative process, derived from updated constitution of 1973 and the amended rules of business. Since specialist draftsmen are very hard to find, we also provide courses on legislation drafting and legal and interpretive intricacies thereof. We invite legal experts as well as veteran lawmakers for lectures. We also provide training on various aspects of the budgetary process eg how to raise points of order and how to introduce cut motions.
Second is the "capacity-building services", in which PIPS organises seminars, workshops and conferences for parliamentarians and functionaries to perform their duties. So far we have developed training modules in many parliamentary areas, which include effective committee working, legislative research, public hearings, question hour, constituency relations, business of the House and rules of procedures, etc. Then PIPS also provides the research and informational services, services to parliamentary committees, and public outreach services.
BRR: What is the institute's organisational structure?
MS: All policies of PIPS are formed by a board of governors, whose chairmanship rotates every three years between Chairman Senate and Speaker National Assembly. All four provincial assembly speakers are members of the board. Political parties have their representation on the board in accordance with their strength in the parliament. Of the 22 members on the board include four Senators and eight MNAs, and the executive director of the institute. All the decisions have to be approved by the board, which also supervises PIPS' functioning.
Every year, the board prepares a plan for training and research and we implement it. All assemblies contribute towards the Institute's annual budget. Every month, we send a report to the board on training and research outcomes. Then there is a yearly progress report as well.
BRR: What is the capacity situation like among various assemblies?
MS: Based on my experience, I feel that the Balochistan assembly's legislative capacity needs the most improvement. It is the largest province but has the least numbers of representatives because the provincial population is small. But I feel that improvement is needed across the board. Different assemblies need different legislative capabilities because they face different issues. We are looking to increase our capacity to help them. Soon we are going to hire an international legislation-drafting expert to help in the process of provincial capacity-building for post-devolution domains like health and education.
BRR: How does the training process work?
MS: We have specified courses - which can range from a few weeks to several months - in different modules such as legislation, constitution, rules and procedures, and general issues facing the country. We write to the assembly speakers and seek names for participants for courses. The speakers nominate the participating parliamentarians and functionaries - we cannot suggest the names of participants. At the end of each course, there is an evaluation and a certificate is issued. The efficacy of these courses depends on co-operation from the assemblies.
To further support the parliament, we are soon going to hire interns to facilitate the standing committees.
BRR: Generally what is the level of participation of parliamentarians in PIPS' courses?
MS: From my experience, honourable parliamentarians are participating. Young parliamentarians are especially taking a lot of interest. Their particular interest is in research on various issues. Most of the research queries come from female parliamentarians. We get all types of information queries, ranging from education to energy crisis resolution. Part of our job is to be an information service provider. To respond to information and research queries, we have a unit that deals with the research on demand.
BRR: Which parties are more forthcoming in the training domain?
MS: We are experiencing the most interest from the speakers of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies for training. The Punjab assembly recently invited an expert trainer from Canterbury, who was here on three-week training.
BRR: How does PIPS ensure non-partisanship?
MS: Non-partisanship is actually one of the Institute's core values. We provide all honourable members with equal quality of services. We don't have pressure of any kind. The board is represented by all the political parties in the assemblies. The board rules by majority, right now, the Chairman Senate of Pakistan is the President of Board of Governors.
BRR: Please tell us a little bit about the operations of the institute's in-house research unit?
MS: We have an in-house research team of six people - some of them are specialists in economics - who provide this service. To facilitate parliamentary research, we have a resource centre in parliament lodges as well where our staffs receive information/research requests and later on provide research inputs. Research is usually focused on current issues. We have a monthly research digest, which publishes selected in-house analyses on issues of national and global importance.
BRR: You provide solicited information and research inputs to parliamentarians. Does PIPS have its own research interests?
MS: We are particularly interested in devolution down to the local government level. Our October research digest also had a special feature on it. However, we are primarily providers of research that is on demand. Parliamentarians come to us to frame their queries and to find the source of information like which ministry(s) to contact.
BRR: How do you help the parliamentarians reach out to the public?
MS: It's part of our mandate. We conduct public hearings, public engagement and civil society interactions. We have a dedicated auditorium facility for the purpose of public outreach right here (in the PIPS' building). We conduct public hearings here. Soon, we're going to be doing public hearings here on the cyber crime bill. We are also regularly holding student debates where parliamentarians interact with students. We are working with the universities to connect students with the honourable members.