ISLAMABAD: Former Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani has said that Parliament is incomplete as the leaders of the opposition in the Senate and the National Assembly have not been nominated.
He said in a statement that this exposes a contradiction in democracy, adding, “We talk of the supremacy of Parliament, yet are less inclined to uphold this principle, as the political system is already strained by polarization.”
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf later nominated Mahmood Khan Achakzai, chief of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, as opposition leader in the National Assembly, and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas of the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen for the Senate. However, their appointments have yet to be officially notified, despite the passage of several months.
Mr Rabbani said that the chairman and speaker of the Senate and National Assembly, respectively, should, under the rules, appoint the leaders of the opposition, as leaving the offices vacant sidelines dissent.
While expressing his disappointment, he stated that such steps lead towards weakening Parliament, a self-made disaster in a hybrid democracy.
The issue has been under discussion for weeks, following correspondence between the National Assembly Secretariat and the opposition.
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