ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senior leader and former Chairman Senate, Senator Mian Raza Rabbani, said, “Pakistan is currently suffering from a serious crisis.” However, he believes that the people of Pakistan will take Pakistan out of the current crisis.
In an exclusive interview with WE News, Raza Rabbani said, “Parliament, which as per the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a supreme institution, has become a redundant platform and important matters such as negotiations with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, the details of their settlement in the erstwhile FATA or negotiations with the International Monitory Fund (IMF) are not discussed in the Parliament. And practically, the Parliament has turned into a redundant body.”
Receive information about important issues through media: Raza Rabbani
Raza Rabbani said, “Whatever information reaches him about these very important issues, it reaches him only through the media. We have requested a joint session of the Parliament to discuss the terms and conditions and details of the ceasefire agreement with the TTP; however, the TORs were not discussed in the parliament.”
Rabbani said that through a statement of a former prime minister, we learned about talks with TTP and settling some elements of the TTP in the erstwhile FATA. Similarly, he added that the Parliament was kept completely ignorant of the terms of the loan agreement with the IMF.
Shrinking power of Parliament and responsibility
Raza Rabbani said that at that time, the independence of the Parliament was not questioned; rather, the Parliament had become an obsolete institution. He said that when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf was in government, he thought that PTI was responsible for bringing the Parliament to this state, but now he thinks that all political parties, including PPP, are responsible for the shrinking power of the Parliament.
Raza Rabbani said that the administration played a major role in making the Parliament inactive. The administration is not taking the Parliament seriously, and it is not only a matter of the incumbent government but the previous governments as well.
Rabbani maintains that no major policy statements are made in Parliament. He noted that the prime minister and federal ministers consider it more worthy of making a major policy statement at an event or through a press conference. While the history of the world is that major policy statements are issued from the floor of the Senate or the National Assembly, he added.
Raza Rabbani said that the main reason for the entire crisis is the non-implementation of the Constitution. He argued that the powers and limits of all institutions are well defined within the Constitution, and the Constitution clearly establishes a triangle of powers between the legislature, the judiciary, and the executive.
“Since the constitution is not being implemented in its true spirit, you see that there is a power struggle between the three main pillars of the state, and each pillar is trying to interfere in the authority of the other institution,” Rabbani argued.
The former chairman Senate said, “Judiciary is enacting legislation at the judicial level, in contrast to the intention of the lawmakers.”
“Apart from the real intent of the legislation, the Judiciary looks at what moral principle they think is correct, and the same is given priority within the judicial orders,” Rabbani pointed.
Interpretation of Article 63A is inconsistent with legislation
Talking about the Supreme Court’s decision regarding Article 63A dealing with the disqualification of parliamentarians, Mian Raza Rabbani said that he also appeared before the apex court in this case. He said the interpretation of Article 63A in the court decision was inconsistent with the legislation enacted in the 18th Amendment.
Talking about the procedure of appointing the judges of the Supreme Court, Raza Rabbani said that he thinks that when the 18th Amendment was approved, it was considered with great seriousness.
Like the prevailing international laws, the judges should be appointed by the Parliament, but then a realistic approach was taken, and it was thought that neither the institutions nor the society was ready for the judges to appear before a parliamentary commission. A middle ground was therefore suggested, consisting of a Judicial Commission and a Parliamentary Committee.
Unfortunately, the 19th Amendment was introduced, which upset the balance, and then the judgments of the petitions filed after the 19th Amendment made the Parliamentary Committee absolutely null and void.
Mian Raza Rabbani said that the resistance of the people of Pakistan is very high, and he believes that the people of Pakistan will take the country out of this crisis by showing solidarity.
