Parliament becoming a sham shoora: Rabbani

ISLAMABAD: Former chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani said on Friday that the trichotomy of power was entangled in an intra-institutional turf war while Parliament was receding from being redundant to becoming a sham shoora.

He observed at the launch of his book based on his ruling as chairman of the Upper House of the Parliament, which could not give, pertaining to the concept of trichotomy of power. Speaking here at a simple launching ceremony at the National Press Club, the veteran legislator explained the scenario, which led him to thrashing out ruling on the trichotomy of power but then he for certain reasons, held it back for this day to ‘announce’ it in the shape of a book: Entangled Threads; A Ruling Never Given.

“In the given circumstances of today, trichotomy of power as provided in the Constitution 1973 is entangled in an intra-institutional turf war and Parliament is receding from being redundant to becoming a sham shoora,” he maintained.

Rabbani continued,” I deem it my responsibility as a Pakistani to place a written document that can in the last, generate a debate to bring constitutional sanity. Entangled Threads; A Ruling Never Given, is an attempt to state in simple words what trichotomy of power is i.e. the role of each institution: the executive, the judiciary and the parliament as defined in the Constitution along with checks and balances so as not to interfere in the working and functioning of each institution”.

He emphasised that the basic purpose was to generate a debate, which would lead to an intra-institutional dialogue amongst institutions functioning under the Constitution in order to restore constitutional sanctity. “The ruling discusses each institution individually and in the ultimate draws conclusions to the role and limitations of each institution,” he noted.

Earlier, he contended that ever since its inception, Pakistan waded from one crisis to another, be it political, economic or of governance. Experimentation away from its historical routes i.e. federalism and parliamentary democracy did not help.

“These crises have precipitated into a crisis of the state where the Constitution is in existence but yet it is in abeyance, parliament functions yet it is redundant, transparency is preached yet it is driven by a political agenda and the structures of the government are there yet there is no governance,” he noted.

Rabbani said that in 2016 and 2017, he had proposed an intra-institutional dialogue but then realized that what must precede is a strict adherence to the concept of trichotomy of power provided in the Constitution, 1973. “Therefore, I drafted a ruling in my capacity as the then chairman. Unfortunately, the intra-institutional polarization, the internal political situation and the uncertainty surrounding my own political career prevented me from announcing it,” he said. “In my last speech as the chairman, I informed the House of such a ruling and promised that in the days to ahead, I will make it public,” he pointed out.