Rabbani launches Senate’s revamped website

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Senate, Mian Raza Rabbani, said on Thursday that Pakistan’s parliamentary history had been unpleasant due to derailment of democracy, which contributed to alienation of the masses from their representatives.
Rabbani minced no words to concede that at present, the downtrodden segment of society was not prepared to defend the parliament. He expressed these views at a ceremony held in connection with the launching of the revamped website of the Senate and updated status of the project of “Restoration of the Majesty and Transparency in the Parliament (RMTP)”, initiated in March this year.
“The poor and the working class will never stand up to defend parliamentary democracy unless they have the feeling of ownership of the parliament and they are convinced that it will stand up to defend them. Right now the downtrodden segment of the society is not prepared to defend the parliament,” he said.
Rabbani also maintained that over a period of time, Article 6 of the Constitution would also become redundant.
About the project to restore parliament’s majesty, Rabbani said that the first phase in this respect was launched to cover a wide range of areas including the House Business, Committees, Public outreach and a number of Parliamentary reforms necessitated in the aftermath of the constitutional reforms.
Informing the audience about the newly introduced features of the Senate website, the Senate Chairman stated that the purpose of this exercise is to enhance connectivity, give more accessibility to the people and make the House more open and transparent.
He said that salaries, allowances, perks and privileges of the Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Leader of the House, Leader of the Opposition and Senators had now been placed on the website.
Attendance of the members in the House and committees would also be placed on the website for transparency. He said that these areas were considered taboo in the past.
Rabbani pointed out that implementation of decisions of the House had always been an area of concern. “Senate rules have been amended to ensure that ministers concerned appear before the House and report all matters referred by the House and recommendations made by the committees,” he noted and that rules had been amended to make the functioning of the Senate more sustainable.
Chairman Rabbani observed that 18th Amendment introduced a system of participatory federalism and the House, which represents the Federation, needed more powers to take the journey of federalism forward.
Talking about Senate’s connect with its electoral college, namely the provincial assemblies, he said traditionally, individual senators had a tendency to lose connection with them after getting elected to the Upper House of Parliament and said that an institutional mechanism was direly needed to make a connection thus paving the way for a strong federation.
Chairman Senate observed that Public Petition Table had been established within the Senate Secretariat and the response, he said, was overwhelming.
Rabbani noted that a new website of the Senate was being launched to adhere to the international parliamentary standards of transparency and openness.
He appreciated the Senate Secretariat and Secretary Senate for the efforts and commitment.
Secretary Senate Amjed Pervez Malik on the occasion said that the new website not only had a brand new design, but also offered new features promoting the concept of an open parliament.
The ceremony was attended by Senators Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Mohsin Khan Leghari, Secretary Senate Amjed Pervez Malik and large number journalists and media representatives.