Parliamentary system indispensable for country’s survival

ISLAMABAD: Secretary-General of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Former Senator Farhatuallah Babar Monday said out of fourteen points of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, four points are about provincial autonomy, which is a central piece to this country.

He said this while addressing a public seminar titled “Parliamentary System of Governance: Challenges and way forward”, organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here.

He said the federal parliamentary system of governance is indispensable for ensuring participation, provincial autonomy and survival of this country.

Eighteen constitutional amendment was one of the greatest achievements of the all political parties, which addressed the critical issues of provincial autonomy, he added.

Babar said in the last few months there is a debate which is being generated deliberately whether the parliamentary or presidential form of government suits the country with the aim to present parliamentary system a fail system.

He said in the last ten years, there were three general elections held on time, two governments completed their legitimate tenures and system was moving in the right direction.

Though there are challenges and shortcomings in the current parliamentary system, as no system is perfect, but that does not mean to demolish the whole system instead of fixing the weaknesses," Babar said.

He called for strengthening the Senate, National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, Council of Common Interest and National Economic Advisory Council for improving the parliamentary system, adding that NFC awards can be linked with Sustainable Development Goals achievements, improved human right situation and tackling extremism in the provinces.

Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz, MNA Romina Khursheed Alam said it is the success of the current federal parliamentary system that all political parties arrived on a consensus and passed the historic 18th constitutional amendment and stood on principle position on various issues of national importance.

She said, "There are challenges and lacunas in the current system, but we should tackle the challenges through consensus".

SDPI Executive Director Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri said despite having strong parliamentary traditions, the United Kingdom still facing the grave challenges such as Brexit.

In healthy and progressive societies there is always room for debates, discussions and improvements and we should all maturely move forward and strive for better governance in Pakistan.

He said all political parties should sit together and evolve a consensus around core issues of governance and economy.