Parliament’s first year

WHILE reviewing the performance of the current National Assembly (NA) — the 16th legislature since independence — during its first parliamentary year, one is struck by the fact that the House has decisively changed the equation between parliament and the judiciary that had existed for a long time.

The key instrument of this profound change was the controversial 26th Constitutional Amendment which, among other things, made the appointment of the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) the sole preserve of parliament.

Instead of the senior-most judge stepping up to assume the position of CJP, it is now the special parliamentary committee consisting of parliamentarians representing various political parties in proportion to their strength in the House which selects one of the three senior-most judges for the position. This is quite an upgrade in its powers since the Iftikhar Chaudhry-led Supreme Court had coerced parliament into passing the 19th Amendment in 2010 for the abdication of the powers of the parliamentary committee.

Compromising on the government’s earlier plan to establish a separate constitutional court, the 26th Amendment led to the creation of constitutional benches that, simply put, would hear all political cases of major concern to governments and political parties. The other benches would hear the remaining cases.

At the centre of the amendment is the reconstituted Judicial Commission which now appoints and elevates judges. The Judicial Commission would also undertake annual performance evaluation of the high court judges, which may lead to action against ‘inefficient’ judges through the Supreme Judicial Council.

Irrespective of the difference of opinion on the quality and content of the passed laws, another distinction of the Assembly is the passage of a record 47 laws, surpassing almost all previous assemblies’ record of first-year legislations and constituting seven times the average number of bills passed during the first year by the four previous assemblies.

Most of the laws were hurriedly passed without any meaningful debate.

The Assembly also passed at least 13 other important bills, including amendments to the Acts governing the armed forces to extend the terms of the service chiefs from three to five years, with the possibility of granting extension for another five.

One of the three amendments to the Elections Act, 2017, passed during the year authorised the appointment of retired high court judges to poll tribunals hearing the election petitions. The opposition rejected the amendment and dubbed it as an effort by the government to get their desired judgements from the tribunals.

The other amendment to the Elections (Second Amendment) Act, 2024, was an effort to render ineffective the eight-judge majority judgement of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, which had decided the reserved seats case in favour of the PTI on July 12.

Other high-impact laws passed by the Assembly included the controversial Peca (Amendment) Act, 2025, and the Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act, 2024, which prescribed three to 10 years’ imprisonment and fine for those who failed to obey the orders of the administration regarding the public meetings and rallies in Islamabad Capital Territory.

Towards the end of the parliamentary year, the Assembly passed the Members of Parliament (Salaries and Allowances) (Amendment) Act, which increased parliamentarians’ salary from Rs188,000 to Rs519,000 per month. Although the 176 per cent increase was significant and widely criticised by the media and opinion leaders, many critics disregarded the fact that the increase was granted after a gap of nine years and that at least two provincial assemblies had already increased their members’ salaries in the same range.

Most of the laws were hurriedly passed without any meaningful debate in the standing committees or within the full House amid strong protests and, in many cases, boycotts by the opposition. Noisy protests and rowdyism became routine within the Assembly, which further tarnished its image.

The number of yearly working hours of the current Assembly dropped by about 30pc to 212, compared to the average 298 or so in the previous three assemblies. Average daily working hours also decreased from three in the previously assemblies to two in the first year of the current Assembly. Like the previous assemblies, the NA continued the unhealthy pattern of failing to take up almost half of the daily agenda.

The upswing in the ordinances promulgated from an average of eight during the first year of the past two assemblies to 16 during the current NA indicated a downward slide on the democracy path.

As a welcome step, the NA Speaker moderated the much-needed dialogue between the ruling coalition and the PTI-led opposition. Sadly, the dialogue could not proceed beyond the third sitting.

It is heartening that, despite all its complaints against the government, the PTI-led opposition continued to be a part of the Assembly although most of their time there was consumed by protests. Leader of the Opposition Omar Ayub Khan was, in fact, the most vocal MNA during the year.

The formation of the standing committees, which should have been completed by April 2, 2024, ie within 30 days after the election of the prime minister, took much longer and was completed by June 12. The issue of the chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee also lingered for much longer due to differences between the treasury and opposition benches, but the issue was amicably settled as a PTI nominee was unanimously elected to the important position towards the end of the parliamentary year on Jan 24, 2025.

Despite an extraordinary legislative performance, the first year of the current NA witnessed overall weakening of democratic and parliamentary norms because of one-sided legislation, agitation by the opposition within the House, the hurried passage of bills after the suspension of normal parliamentary procedures, and lack of meaningful debate on legislations in the plenary and standing committees. Of the 13 most important bills passed, only four were referred to the standing committees for detailed scrutiny.

The writer is president of the Pakistan-based think tank Pildat.

president@pildat.org

X: *@ABMPildat*

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2025