The supremacy of parliament, which the government has been claiming since its coming into power, can be gauged from the presence of the ministers in sessions of the parliament, particularly the Senate.
The questions which the members are supposed to ask the cabinet members were deferred on a number of occasions in the Senate owing to the absence of ministers or a minister. The opposition parties, sometimes including government’s coalition party, the Awami National Party, staged token walkouts many a time from the proceedings of the Upper House in protest, but in vain, as the ministers never come to realise their misdemeanour.
The government is responsible to answer questions of both the Houses of parliament, the Senate and the National Assembly, per the constitution. The members have walked out of the Upper House more than once a day.
On Friday, the ministers’ absence led the members to stage walkouts thrice and forced the Senate Chairman Farooq H Naik to direct the Leader of the House in the Senate Nayyer Hussain Bukhari to take up the matter with the prime minister.
The absence of ministers from the Upper House, though not new phenomenon, erodes the credibility of the government’s claim that parliament was supreme and helps cause public disillusionment with the democratic process in the country.
During the question hour on Friday, only Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar was present in the Upper House and the Senate chairman had to defer major chunk of questions pertaining to the ministries of interior and railways, as the ministers concerned were absent.
Senator Zafar Ali Shah had said in protest, “Deferring questions each time is not the way to run the house and the chairman should seek explanation from the ministers.”
ANP Senator Haji Adeel was extremely furious, saying ministers’ absence from the House amounted to ridiculing parliament.
The parliament itself and various standing committees are supposed to act as watchdogs regarding the performance and working of the government. Senate Standing Committee Chairman Talha Mehmood has been complaining since long that Interior Minister Rehman Malik never appeared in the sanding committee meetings.
Every minister is an ex-officio part of respective standing committee of both the Houses of parliament and is supposed to reply to the queries of the committee members.
The irrespirable attitude of the ministers is a serious issue, which needs to be addressed if the tall claims of parliament’s supremacy are to be proven.
