In keeping with its tradition of monitoring the performance of the elected legislatures in Pakistan, Pildat is holding a Citizens Forum to evaluate the performance of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab in Budget Session 2012-2013 on Friday.
Pildat said evaluating the government's proposed budget to ensure it meets the requirements of the citizens is the most important task of elected representatives. It is a sacred trust that citizens entrust to their representatives.
However, public representatives and assemblies have not continued to do justice to this sacred trust. Assemblies merely go through the "motions" of passing the budget without allocating enough time and sufficient detailed scrutiny of the budget in the parliamentary committees.
Even though all political parties represented in the parliament and provincial assemblies agree that elected representatives need to have a greater role in influencing the executive's budget and must thoroughly scrutinise budget before its passage, unfortunately, little, if any, reform has taken place in strengthening the legislatures' role in the budget process in Pakistan.
The Citizens Forum will evaluate how has the provincial assembly of the Punjab fared in carrying out its constitutional responsibilities of effectively evaluating and passing the Budget 2012-2013. The Citizens Forum will be chaired by the Speaker Punjab Assembly, Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan, guest speakers include, Tanvir Ashraf Kaira, MPA, former provincial minister for finance, Irfan Qaiser Shaikh, President Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Professor Dr Ashraf Nizami, President Pakistan Medical Association and senior journalist, Iftikhar Ahmed.