Parliament’s authority

Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani has long stood for the supremacy of parliament and for building the capacity of the institution. Rabbani now sees an emerging threat to the branch of government which directly represents the people of Pakistan. Speaking at a seminar in Quetta marking the anniversary of the killing of Balochistan Bar Association President Bilal Kasi and the terrible suicide attack the same day that led to the death of 50 lawyers, lamented how parliament, long the weakest institution in the country, was now even further weakened by the executive and the judiciary. His speech seemed to be a reference to the use of Articles 62 and 63 to disqualify the prime minister. Rabbani seems to imply that a Pandora’s box has been opened which can be used to unseat just about any parliamentarian. The parallel he drew with the infamous Article 58(2)(b), another clause inserted by a military dictator, which gave the president the power to instantly dissolve assemblies, shows a worry about the precedent that has been set. The nebulous articles have already been cited in a petition seeking the disqualification of PTI chief Imran Khan. Some are already anticipating that the Election Commission of Pakistan is going to be inundated with petitions seeking the removal of political opponents for not being ‘sadiq’ and ‘ameen’.

Among the proposals Rabbani suggested to remedy the imbalance of power between the three branches of government was for them to sit together and ensure that each branch work within its ambit. He even offered to host the dialogue in the Senate. Some members of parliament perceive they are facing hostility from the judiciary and indifference from the executive. But parliamentarians should also look inwards. The attendance rate of members of the National Assembly and Senate is poor and as many as 20 percent of parliamentarians have barely ever spoken on the floor of the assemblies. The absence of PTI chief Imran Khan from the vote for the new prime minister and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s abysmal attendance record show that the disdain for parliament starts with the leadership of the political parties. The political parties too need to ask themselves if the institution of parliament is more important than their short-term political interests. Rabbani’s party, the PPP, welcomed the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif, which undercuts his own words about the potential danger of such cases. An institution is only as strong as the individuals who make up that institution and it is up to the parliamentarians to wrest back any authority they think has been taken away from them.