Pakistan's first senate and its role , analysis of chief executive, bureaucracy and army's interference in it

1. Sidra Jabeen Khan

3.  Role of first Senate
 Analyze Senate’s actual
formation objective
 What did it deliver in return
 Contribution in politics
 Analyze senate’s working in 3
different dimensions:
o Chief executive
o Army
o Military
 Their interference results on
institution

4.  Came into being on
1973
 British Parliamentary
system
 Bicameral legislature
 No of members: 45
(raised to 63 in 1977)
 Reason for formation
 Senators
Parliament
Upper House
Senate
Lower House
National
Assembly

5. First senate of Pakistan couldn’t provide best
role in politics due to too many external and
internal factors i.e. pressure of that time chief
executive, will of bureaucracy and side profile
of military at its head.

6.  Hussain Haqqani’s book of 2005, “Pakistan:
between mosque and Military’s” chapter old and
new Pakistan
 The research by Mahboob Hussain in 2015 on
“Power dynamics of state institutions in
Pakistan, discourse analysis of bureaucracy and
the legislature 1971-1977”
 Another research paper of Mahboob Hussain on
Parliament in Pakistan 1971-1977 and chief
executive: an analysis of Institutional autonomy

7.  Elliot L.Tepper’s research of 1974 “The New
Pakistan: Problems and Prospects”
 Another research work of Mahboob Hussain
“Institutional relationship in Pak: A study of
the Army and the Parliament 1971-1977”
 Research Gap

8.  Meant for checks and balance
 Embankment for the protection of smaller
provinces
 Term of office (4 years)

9. Federal Legislative List
Part I
Federal Subjects
Part II
Provinces special
interest (railways,
minerals, oil and
natural gas, council of
common interests)

10.  Bills origination
 Inaugural session: 6
Aug 1973
 Khan Habibullah
Khan: Chairman
 MirzaTahir M Khan:
Deputy Chairman
KHAN HABIBULLAH
KHAN

11.  Members of Senate
 1975: Formation of Senate
o Rao Abdus Sattar was leader of the house and
Mr. Muhammad Hashim Ghilzai was leader of
the opposition.
 1977: Formation of Senate
o members were raised from 45 to 63

12.  Decisions of Chair: 229
o 5 – absentee members
o 132 – adjournment motions
o 7 – amendment in bills
o 15 – related to bills
o 4 – decorum
o 6 – motions
o 28 – point of orders
o 1 – press
o 22 – privilege motions
o 7– questions
o 1 – relevancy
o 1 – resolutions
o 1 – unparliamentary expression

13.  Rule of passing
 Sessions: 507 days
 Actual sitting: 305 days
 Meetings: 570 hours (74% of time was
devoted to legislative business)
 243 bills: considered and passed

14. 243
Bills
115: referred to
standing committee
107: recommended
for passage
without
amendments
8: amendments
suggested
243
Bills

15.  Standing Committee: 94 meetings
 FinanceCommittee: constitute under article
88 of the constitution
 Expenditure: controlled by senate itself
 50 ordinances laid: 1 lapsed, 49 Passes as bill

16. Govt Party
337
Qazi Faizul Haq
(66 questions)
Opposition
Party
836
Khawaja
Muhammad
Safdar (525
questions)

17.  Debates: 305 have been printed

18.  Interference in parliament
 Ghaus Baksh Bizenjo arrest,
18th April 1974
 Bangladesh recognition
 Firing in Quetta, 6th August
1974
 Misbehaving with LCW staff,
13th Nov, 1975
 Large entourage of PM in
foreign tour, 17 March 1976
 Land reforms bill, 1974
 Mighty hold of Chief
executive

19.  Strong institution
 Authoritarianism
 Statement of Federal Minister, 27 Feb, 1976
 Mature Bureaucracy

20.  Temporarily successful in
asserting primacy of Civilian
Government
 Powerful institution
 Grave Situation in Balochistan,
14th Dec, 1973
 Unwarranted attack inVillage
Sheerani, 6th August, 1974

21.  Refusal to opposition leaders to visit
Chamalang, 6th August, 1974
 Alleged bombing of Air force, June, 1974
 Defence was subject out of the order of
Parliament
 Couldn’t assert power in contrast of Army

22.  Started well in decisions & policies
 Affected by other powerful institutions
 Especially by chief executive
 Members were favoured
 Govt party dominated
 Weak institution, powerful chief executive
 Irony of Pak’s History

23.  British Ambassador, I. (1973, August 16). Diplomatic Report No. 392/73. FCO 37/1334. London:The
National Archives (TNA).
 Constitution of Islamic Republic Pakistan, 1973
 Dawn, 7 August 1973
 Decisions of Chair (1973-1977) Islamabad, 1981
 Elliot L.Tepper. (1974). the New Pakistan: Problems and Prospects. Pacific Affairs, 47(1), 56–68.
Http://doi.org/10.2307/2755895
 First Senate of Pakistan Islamabad, 1980
 Haqqani, Hussain Old and New Pakistan. (2005). Old and New Pakistan. In Pakistan: Between
Mosque and Military (pp. 87–130).
 Hasan Askari Rizvi, the Military: Role Enhancement and the Political,
 Hussain, M. (2013). Parliament in Pakistan 1971-77 and Chief Executive: An Analysis of Institutional
Autonomy. Journal of Political Studies, 20(1), 83.
 Hussain, M. Institutional Relationship in Pakistan: A Study of the Army and the Parliament.
 Khan, Hamid Constitutional and political history of Pakistan (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2009)
 Kokab, M. H. (2013). Institutional Influence in Pakistan, Bureaucracy, Cabinet and Parliament, Asian
Social Science, 173-178
 M Hussain Power Dynamics of State Institutions in Pakistan, Discourse Analysis of Bureaucracy and
the Legislature (1971-1977) - South Asian Studies, 2015
 Senate Debates, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976