Senate and NA committees

HERE are 42 standing committees in the National Assembly and 24 standing and functional committees in the Senate of Pakistan. There are also special and select committees in each house of parliament. Each committee is headed by a chairperson having a number of members. In Senate committees only senators and in National Assembly committees only members of the National Assembly can be members. Among a list of committees, there are two committees in the Senate and one in the National Assembly on the subject of human rights. There are also other committees which can address human rights-related issues and violations such as health, water, education and narcotics. According to their rules of business, these committees are empowered to invite or summon before them any member or any other person having a special interest in relation to any matter under its consideration and may hear expert evidence and hold public hearing. The government has not yet highlighted the importance of committees which could be very helpful in resolving issues and problems. These committees might have been a useful source of remedy and relief for thousands of people if these would have performed accordingly. Interestingly, when civil society organisations have not been able to meet these committees and their members to share their concerns, how is it possible for the common man to access these committees? The government may initiate a public awareness campaign about the committees’ roles and functions to help resolve matters that other institutions are not able to do. There is a need to allocate office address to each committee having fax and phone numbers so that the public can access these easily. I believe the committees are forums of elected representatives and may be of great help. ABDULLAH KHOSO Islamabad From the Newspaper | Letters | 19th February, 2012 http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/19/senate-and-na-committees.html