Covid-19 forced legislatures to adopt innovative ways: Senate secretary

ISLAMABAD: Senate Secretary Mohammad Qasim Samad Khan has said that Covid-19 created hardships for the national parliaments across the world; however, more innovative ways were adopted to transact the legislative business and play the most significant role of oversight. He said this while addressing the joint virtual meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments (ASGP) and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions’ (IFLA) Library and Research Services for Parliaments Section.

He participated in the virtual session, which was held to share experience on “The Role and Organisation of Parliaments in Pandemic”.

Qasim Samad said Parliaments have a momentous role in tackling not just Covid-19 but all emergencies: They must ensure the health and wellbeing of not only their citizens, but also the health and wellbeing of their economies and societies through resource allocation, emergency legislation, accountability and oversight.

The Senate secretary apprised the participants of the plan of action undertaken by the parliament of Pakistan during the pandemic crisis. He said “we decided very early to prioritise our agendas; and issues that related directly to the Covid-19 pandemic were always taken up first”.

He said Pakistani parliament, like other world parliaments, also took productive measures to halt the spread of coronavirus. He said even though the parliament of Pakistan was out of session for some time, sessions were called intermittently with strict adherence to the standard operating procedures (SOPs).

“Despite these challenges, we were not only able to meet the target of minimum days of sitting of parliament, but were also able to maintain the amount of legislative work,” the secretary added.

He briefed the forum in detail about the steps taken to contain the spread of the virus and ensure protection the parliamentarians and the staff. “Besides, the committees also continued their meetings with reduced frequency, but a more targeted approach of addressing only the most urgent issues,” Qasim Samad said.

He said that pandemic “taught us to remain ready for any emergency situations”. The Covid-19 crisis, he said, had given an opportunity to rebuild more resilient parliaments and system, which could continue to work for the betterment of our peoples even in uncertain times.