Assembly of Elders

Uproar in our National Assembly is not an uncommon sight. The august house has, quite too often, seen its honourable members behave in an irresponsible and immature way — in an unruly manner rather. The lower house is witness to lawmakers erupting uncontrollably against each other, exchanging verbal filth, and coming close to fist fight. The assembly hall has, many a time, reverberated with personal attacks and sexist remarks. Treasury and opposition members have frequently been locked in a duel of who can shout louder, and who can come up with a wittier jaw-breaking reply — completely neglecting that they have been elected for carrying out legislation on issues of national and public importance and not to engage in mud-slinging or to wrestle with each on one issue or the other.

The National Assembly, though, is a mix of elected representatives, not all of whom may necessarily come from sophisticated backgrounds and may, thus, be passed over for behaving unsuitably on an occasion or two. However, the Senate i.e. the upper house of parliament is supposed to be a serious, deliberative assembly of learned people obligated to provide “expression to the sober second thought of the people” in a civilised and educated manner — as described by Senator George Frisbie Hoar of the United States. Since ‘senate’ is derived from the Latin word ‘senex’ which means elder, the literal meaning of the word ‘senate’ is Assembly of Elders.

Unfortunately though, our Assembly of Elders too does not seem to care about living up to its obligatory expectations, and the debates there are mostly meant to score political points. In an unusual sight in the Senate last Tuesday, a PTI lawmaker came so close to exchanging blows with a PML-N member over remarks against the PM that the sergeants-at-arms posted in the assembly had to intervene. Can we call our Senate a chamber of wiser, more educated and more experienced members of society, as it is supposed to be?

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2020.

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