The Senate had become like the higher institution where the admission of senators is subject to the permission
of the concerned party head or with advance resignation of the said senator if
his actions or services get out of hand. The Senate is a hall where we came to
discuss the issues of the common man and to guide the government and the
nation, but it is merely confined to be a platform of verbal discussions as
senators are not given the authority to take actions respectively.
We are supposed to lead the
nation here with our experience and wisdom, but I noticed more rows and
crossfires. It is unfortunate to mention here that the ‘row agenda’ comes from
concerned political parties from both sides; the opposition and treasury
benches. The members have very less leverage in playing with independence. The
opponents within the party get copies of the video speech to make some who are
sitting behind to move the strings.
A research on the time spent in
my tenure of six years will show that 1/6 of the time of a senator is spent on
legislation, while the rest is spent over discussions to outsmart opponents,
including a few physical fights. The National Assembly leaders, even with one
vote, overpower senators as only parliamentary leaders are given a chance to
speak on important issues in the parliament, even if it is a joint session.
Where are the parliamentary norms
and values? A parliamentary leader provides the list as to who will speak from
his/her party and the choice becomes quite visible in the senate sessions. The
senate of Pakistan is not coming to the expectation of the public due to the
fact that it has never been given the real status of being an upper house of
the parliament. It will suit it better if the senate was named as the lower
house since there is hardly any privilege given to it as an upper house of the
parliament.
The Senate was supposed to look
after the interests of all provinces including the small provinces.
Statistically speaking, hardly 1 percent of the demands of small provinces
might have been processed. My fellow senators are witness to it wherein they
brought the issues effectively, but the federation failed to act effectively as
per their directions. I will explain a few issues that we senators face, one by
one briefly. I have the honour of 12 years’ experience of the senate house
which I will always cherish like my school days. I took oath 12 years back and
served this house as the Advisor on narcotics, Interior Minister, Chairman of
planning and development and as Chairman of the interior standing committee.
I am proud to state that all of
us in the interior committee performed as per the wish of this house and served
the nation many times above our party politics. I worked and spoke as per the
dictation of my conscience. Following are the reforms I need to present in
order to enhance the effectiveness and legal status of this upper house.
We need to bring the Senate at
par with the National Assembly. It should be mandatory to take suggestions from
the Senate while constituting a budget. All senior conditional appointments
must be vetted by the senate. The political divide in the Senate should be in
the lower side. Abusive language should be banned completely. The Senate ruling
and standing committee recommendations should be treated as a ruling and not
merely as recommendations—as we see the documents of recommendations are later
treated as “raddi” of the respective ministry. Moving towards the end of my
tenure, I would like to demand the increment of pay of lower employees of the
Senate.
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