NA legislative output soars, deliberation falls

ISLAMABAD:

The first year of the current National Assembly saw a surge in the crucial legislative activity, albeit much of that legislation was passed without required scrutiny and deliberation by its members (MNAs), the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development And Transparency (Pildat) said in a report on Thursday.

The 16th National Assembly held its first sitting on February 29, 2024. Pildat, an independent think tank primarily focused on issues of democracy, governance, and public policy – stated that the house convened for fewer working days and fewer working hours compared to the previous assembly.

“With its first parliamentary year ending on February 28, 2025 (today), Pildat said, the 16th National Assembly “underwent a surge in crucial legislative activity” however, much of the legislation was passed without required scrutiny and deliberation by the MNAs.

The report titled ‘Annual Performance Report of 16th National Assembly of Pakistan’ compares the performance of the lower house of parliament during its first year with the first years of the 15th, 14th, 13th and 12th assemblies.

The report, authored and reviewed by Areeb Khan, Alena Sadiq and Aasiya Riaz, also highlights key issues faced by the country from February 2024 to February 2025 and how the National Assembly played its role in addressing them.

In its first year, the assembly convened for 93 sittings and worked for 212 hours compared to 96 sittings and 297 hours of the previous assembly. The cost of a working hour of the current assembly came to Rs60.08 million per hour, while the average budget per sitting in the first year stood at Rs136.96 million.

However, legislative output of the 16th National Assembly was significantly higher, with 47 bills passed in its first year—a staggering 370% increase from the 10 bills passed during the first year of the 15th National Assembly, Pildat said.

This heightened legislative activity included critical laws and the 26th Constitutional Amendment, most of which were rushed through without adequate time and scrutiny by the assembly and without being referred to relevant standing committees, according to the report.

“The first year of the 16th National Assembly thus saw the passage of significant legislation affecting judicial independence, tenures of services chiefs, electoral system, lenience to madressahs and curbing physical and digital civic freedoms,” said the executive summary of the report.

“While the merits of these measures are hotly contested and debated, their hurried passage has raised further critical concerns about the legislature’s ability and commitment to objective, citizen-centric and well-considered decisions.”

Pildat said that the attendance of MNAs also declined to an average of 66% in the first year, down from 73% in the first year of the previous assembly. “It must be noted that cost per MNA to the taxpayers stood at Rs37.9 million during the currently assembly’s first year.

According to data of the first year, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attended only 17 sittings out of the total 93 or joined only 18% of the total sittings. Former prime minister Imran Khan had attended only 18 out of 96 or 19% sittings and his predecessor Nawaz Sharif attended seven of the 103 or 7% sittings.

In comparison, Opposition Leader Omar Ayub, attended 62 or 67% sittings in the year, up from 53 or 55% attendance of then Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif in first year of previous assembly. Ayub also remained the most vocal MNA with a recorded talk time of 13 hours and 28 minutes.

Overall, the report summed up that the 16th National Assembly showed a relatively weaker performance in terms of agenda items planned and disposed of, with 49.18% of the scheduled agenda items left over during its first year.

“The rate of agenda items left over indicates a casual approach and practice where significant portion of planned business remains incomplete in the National Assembly,” the report said. “With political polarisation at an all-time high, the assembly has struggled to build consensus on national priorities.”