An assembly will
have to disavow its authority as it transforms from a policy-making assembly to
a policy-influencing assembly. This transformation was seen within the American
politics. The Congress became a policy influencing assembly that simply invigilated
the presidential decisions.
Today I want to discuss the ways in which the
Pakistani National Assembly is influenced by external factors that has never
allowed the Pakistani assembly to become anything but executive-dominated.
In Pakistan,
Assembly-Executive association is determined by the party division that occurs
after the electoral process. The
executive will be highly dominating if there is internal party unity, and if the
governing party has an influential position. PML-N enjoys a near-absolute majority
in the national assembly which has allowed it to keep all empirical and
practical power within the executive, even though there is a well-built
opposition. The assembly merely becomes a being without any practical usefulness.
The present government up until its first year in power had not passed a single
bill, which shows that an executive dominated assembly is not only weak but the
executive itself, fails to do its job.
For the Pakistani
Assembly to actually become an effective body, the executive needs to keep a separation
of powers such that the executive can implement the bills that for a change
actually exist.
2 comments:
I completely agree with your views. The state of Pakistan's assembly is very sad. It is in dire need of a turn around and accountability so it starts fulfilling its functions.
It is not only the executive which is to be blame.
The members themselves fail to critically engage in debates and discuss issues which are of public importance.
The passing of the bills such as the 21st amendment without being debated upon in detail by the 2/3rd majority of the total membership of the parliament shows that the parliamentarians have failed to play their role.
Post a Comment