Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani has said that the two Houses of Parliament and the provincial assemblies, if assert their due Constitutional space, it will bring about positive results for democracy in the country. He further said that if we abdicate our space, then other stakeholders will enter the parliamentary domain as and when they like.
Chairman Senate made these remarks while talking to a delegation of chairmen of committees, members and secretariat of provincial assembly of Balochistan, headed by Speaker Balochistan Assembly Rahila Hameed Durani, according to a press release issued on Monday.
Chairman Senate said that the legislature is the weakest of the three links in the trichotomy of power provided for in the Constitution and its mandate is often overstepped by the other two pillars. While emphasizing upon the importance of linkages between the House of Federation and federating units, he said that a proper mechanism for institutional linkages can help in experience sharing at the level of members as well as Secretariats where both sides can learn Parliamentary practices. He also said that the basic spirit of parliamentary form of government is committees system which is an extension of House.
Speaker Balochistan Assembly praised the initiatives and guidance of Chairman Senate and told the meeting that a Council of Chairpersons Committee has been set up in Balochistan Assembly too on the patterns of the same in Senate. She also sought advice in making a procedure of following up on Committees' recommendations.
During the interactive session members of the Balochistan Assembly most of whom were Chairpersons of Committees narrated the issues and their possible solutions being faced in the provincial assembly. Rabbani and Secretary Senate Amjed Pervez Malik, while giving details of the initiatives undertaken at the Senate to make committees' work effective, institutionalizing linkages with provincial assemblies and other areas also extended the proposal of training of members and Secretariat of Balochistan Assembly by the same of Senate to share and learn from experiences.
He also praised the efforts of Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services for arranging the workshop for members of Balochistan Provincial Assembly with emphasis on how committees can be made effective. He said that learning never stops for parliamentarians whether it is about politics, handling of issues of public interest or information about Parliamentary procedures. He further said that we can observe and take information from international parliamentary practices but the basic principles have to be adopted considering the ground realities of our country and people, which can be best learned through such workshops.
Chairman Senate directed Senate Secretariat to evolve a mechanism for improving the interaction between chairmen of the committee of the Provincial Assemblies particularly Balochistan and those of the Senate Standing Committees to learn from the experiences and improve the parliamentary practices.
The meeting was attended among others by MPAs Nasrullah Khan Zayray, Zmarak Khan, Agha Syed Liaquat Ali, Manzoor Ahmed Khan Kakar, Dr Shama Ishaq Baloch, Dr Rukaiya Saeed Hashmi, William John Barkat, Spozmai Achakzai, Hussan Bano, Arifa Siddique, Anita Irfan, Secretary Senate, ED PIPS and officials from the Balochistan Assembly.-PR
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