Session 9: Assemblies in Pakistan

Assemblies embody the legislative part in the divisions of state. They are representatives of the people and are there to debate on the laws and issues surrounding the public affairs of the state. These assemblies have numerous functions that they are supposed to perform within the state machinery.

Assemblies can influence and debate the legislative aspects of the state. They are ideally supposed to debate bills and analyse them to ensure that the laws within a state are just to all members of the society. However, in Pakistan we see that the party-dominated culture has rendered these debates pointless because people vote based on their party affiliations.

Assemblies  represent the common man and mirror the diversity present in a society. They bridge the gap between the state and the people. We see that in Pakistan, this role is not being fulfilled because while there are fixed seats for non-Muslims and women and other minorities, the effect of these is hardly ever seen in substantial action. There are laws present that enable the persecution of specific groups in the society, e.g Hudood Ordinance or persecution of Ahmedis through declaring them non-Muslims. Although the Hudood laws were enacted through the presidential  orders of a military dictator, at the time when the democratic form of the parliament was suspended, the fact of matter remains that these laws are still in place and have not been removed or amended by the parliament. This owes primarily to the fact that these minorities do not have enough power within the assembly to influence the laws that are being enacted. Hence, it highlights the fact that the parliament has failed in its legislative procedures and it not the true representative of the people.

The system of holding the government accountable and responsible is also done through the assemblies. This role of assemblies is often overlooked in Pakistan because the majority in assemblies is held by the party in government and the opposition does not have enough power to tangibly hold the government accountable for their actions.

Governments also use assemblies as propaganda tools to appear legitimate to the general population which renders these assemblies indispensable to all forms of regimes.

The assemblies in Pakistan fall short of their prescribed roles all too often. Does this mean that our parliament has failed to perform its role as the legislators of state? Or are these roles only applicable in theory?