I.A. Rehman
THE Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services is an extremely useful institution created to assist members of parliament in the performance of their august tasks.
Among other things the institute publishes a magazine,
Parliamentary Research Digest, which offers lawmakers rich material for study and absorption. The latest (December 2020) issue of the journal contains a discussion on the ‘IPU’s [Inter-Parliamentary Union] best practices on parliament and democracy in the 21st century’, that Pakistan’s parliamentarians will at least find interesting, notwithstanding the prime minister’s confirmation of his contempt for democracy that one had suspected all along.
The IPU defines five features that a modern democratic parliament must possess. Such a parliament should be:
Aviation minister, PPP MNAs exchange barbs on PIA affairs
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February 3, 2021
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan and the opposition members from Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Tuesday exchanged allegations in the National Assembly, demanding resignations of each other on the issue of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) affairs and seizure of its plane in Malaysia.
“You should be ashamed of receiving kickbacks, receiving commission, looting the national exchequer and signing international agreements due to which Pakistan is facing embarrassing situation,” the Aviation minister said while responding to a calling attention notice, raised by the PPP parliamentarians.
The PPP members including Hina Rabbani Khar, Dr Nafeesa Shah, Syed Naveed Qamar and Shagufta Jumani raised the calling attention on government’s failures to meeting international agreements, leading to seizure of the PIA hotels in New York and Paris and its plane in Malaysia.