First parliamentary year: Pildat releases performance evaluation report of federal ministers

ISLAMABAD: As the first year of the 16th National Assembly draws to a close on February 28, the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) has looked at how federal cabinet members have fared during the year in terms of their presence and performance in the legislature.

To evaluate performance of the members of the federal cabinet in the Parliament, Pildat has looked at both the houses of the Parliament — 16th National Assembly that became functional on February 29, 2024 and the Senate which was reconvened after the election of half of its membership on April 9, 2024. The Pildat has used twin parameters of the objective criteria: attendance of ministers in the Parliament and the amount of time they spoke during parliamentary sessions. In Pildat analysis, Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar has emerged as the most influential and effective member of the cabinet in terms of his performance in the Parliament during 2024-2025. Holding three key portfolios – Law and Justice, Human Rights and Parliamentary Affairs — Senator Azam Tarar can be credited by the government with the passage of most of the 38 government bills in the National Assembly during the first year, which is believed to be the record number of bills passed by any past assembly during its first year. His presence in both the houses of the Parliament – National Assembly and the Senate – was found to be the highest by significant margins as he attended 89 sittings (57 per cent) out of a combined total of 157 sittings in the two houses and spoke for more than 17 hours in the two houses during the first year of the Parliament.

Khawaja Muhammad Asif, who holds the portfolios of Defence, Defence Production and Aviation, attended 69 sittings (44 per cent) of the Parliament and spoke for more than 5.5 hours and secured second position in both attendance and speaking time in the Parliament. Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs, ranks third in attendance with 67 sittings (43 per cent). However, he spoke for only 31 minutes during the first parliamentary year, placing him at 17th position under this parameter.

Rana Tanveer Hussain, Federal Minister for Industries and Production, National Food Security and Research; Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Federal Minister for Housing and Works; and Ali Pervaiz, Minister of State for Finance, Revenue and Power Division, are tied for fourth position in attendance rankings, with 66 (42 per cent) sittings attended. They each spoke for 1 hour and 44 minutes, 1 hour and 1 minute and 1 hour and 31 minutes, respectively. In terms of speaking time, Attaullah Tarar, Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting, National Heritage and Culture, has ranked third. He spoke for almost 4.5 hours but attended 63 sittings (40 per cent), coming in at fifth in attendance rankings. Following him in speaking time rankings is Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb who spoke for nearly 4 hours but attended only 35 sittings (22 per cent).

In fifth spot for speaking time stands Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, who spoke for 2 hours and 45 minutes, despite attending only 32 sittings (20 per cent). Senator Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi, Federal Minister for Interior and Narcotics Control, came in second last on both indicators: attending only 10 sittings (6 per cent) and speaking for only 12 minutes during the entire year. Senator Ahad Cheema, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Establishment, has come at the bottom of both rankings, attending only nine sittings and speaking for only 1 minute in Parliament. Abdul Haleem Khan, Minister for Privatisation and Board of Investment and Communication, has attended 31 sittings of the National Assembly and 41 of the Senate, ranking 8th in attendance and speaking for 34 minutes. Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiative attended 28 sittings of the National Assembly and two sittings of the Senate, ranking 14th in attendance and speaking for 55 minutes.

Sardar Awais Khan Leghari, Minister for Power, attended 52 sittings of the National Assembly and four sittings of the Senate, ranking 7th in attendance with speaking time of 46 minutes. This analysis is based on data of the National Assembly session that ended on February 18 and the Senate session that was prorogued on February 21 this year.