PTI pays scant regard to house proceedings

Fails to take benefit of parliamentary tools to have check on government

ISLAMABAD: “Performing in the National Assembly is like winning a poker game on the Titanic -- the ship is going down, but you are winning your cards,” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan was quoted as saying in a section of the press.

It looks as if all PTI MNAs, except its women legislators, follow this philosophy in letter and spirit because their last three-and-a half years’ performance in the National Assembly is a reflection of what Imran thinks and says.



The PTI is the third largest political party in terms of its seats in the National Assembly – with 33 MNAs in a 340-seat lower house of parliament, or 9.7 per cent.



But, when it comes to performing in the assembly, the PTI is not much different from other opposition parties – including the PPP, the MQM or the JUI-F – which it labels as the ‘friendly opposition’.

Within the PTI, the worst performance was shown by its 18 elected MNAs from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa followed collectively by eight MNAs from Punjab, Sindh and Islamabad. While, the performance of six women MNAs elected on reserved seats is much better than the rest of its MPs.

The worst performing MNA remains Khial Zaman Orakzai from Hangu district. He participated in the house proceedings and spoke on a point of order just once, besides moving calling attention notice six times during the last three-and-a-half years. Zaman refused to comment on his performance in the National Assembly when contacted by The Express Tribune.

The PTI legislators have managed to introduce a total of 17 private member bills during three-and-a-half years: four in the first parliamentary year, one during the second, 11 during the third while only one during the ongoing parliamentary year, according to details available on the National Assembly website and the record of the National Assembly secretariat.

During this period, a total of 128 such bills were laid by opposition and government MNAs. A total of 90 bills have so far been passed by the current National Assembly.

Some other private member bills introduced by PTI MNAs were either withdrawn, rejected, dropped, or not taken up.



Parliamentary tools like calling attention notices, adjournment motions, questions for their answers by the government, resolutions, motions under different rules and procedure and conduct of the National Assembly, participation in the proceedings to raise important issues, etc., are available to maintain strict oversight on the government.

During this period, the National Assembly collectively held 374 sittings, comprising 36 regular sessions and 10 joint sessions of parliament.

Collectively, 33 PTI MNAs spoke 385 times while participating in the house proceedings – 118 times during the first parliamentary year, 57 during the second, 145 during the third and 66 times in the ongoing parliamentary year.

They moved 83 motions under different rules of the assembly, raised points of order 412 times, also raised 93 resolutions, 206 calling attention notices, matter of public importance (six times) and asked 1,806 questions for their written answers by the government.

A significant majority of these motions, calling attention notices, points of order, and resolutions were not taken up. When we talk about the performance of PTI MNAs, its six women MNAs collectively did better than their male counterparts. They were either sole and in some cases co-movers of the majority of private member bills introduced by the PTI MNAs.

They spoke 105 times while participating in the house proceedings, moved 27 motions under different rules, raised points of order 85 times, introduced 44 resolutions, raised 58 calling attention notices and asked 1,091 questions for their written replies from the government.

Within women MNAs, Dr Shireen Mazari remains at top. She alone spoke on the floor of the National Assembly 62 times, while her attendance is also better than other PTI MNAs.

During the last three-and-a-half years, the PTI first boycotted parliament in 2014 for alleged rigging in the general elections. That boycott lasted for almost seven months. While, the second boycott of the National Assembly on behalf of the PTI is currently underway and the party says it would resume attending the house after the hearing in the Panamagate case, currently pending in the Supreme Court, is over.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Dr Shireen Mazari said the PTI’s performance, keeping in mind its numerical strength, was much better than the rest of the opposition parties, adding her party managed to introduce a number of bills in the assembly.

“Although those bills are sent to the standing committees concerned by the house, they vanish there,” she lamented.

In addition to Asad Umar and Dr Arif Alvi other PTI MPs keenly take interest in the house business and play their role in this regard, said Mazari.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2016.