Senate body deliberates on current Senate strength
PESHAWAR: Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice Wednesday deliberated upon issue of continuity of current strength of Senate and distributing its eight seats from erstwhile FATA amongst four provinces equally or increasing the number of general seats as referred by the Chairman Senate to the committee.
The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Senator Muhammad Javed Abbasi at the Parliament House and was attended among others by Senators Muzaffar Hussain Shah, Sana Jamali, Zeeshan Khanzada, Walid Iqbal, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Dr. Ghous Niazi, Secretary Law and Justice.
On invitation from the Committee, constitutional and legal experts also attended the meeting.
The Chairman of Committee explicated on the history of how the seats in the Senate membership have evolved over the time. When the Constitution was promulgated in 1973 Senate seats were at 45, and they were subsequently increased to 63 in 1977, to 87 in 1985 to 100 in 2002, to 104 in 2010 and after merger of FATA in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa it will reduce to 96 when the present membership completes its tenure.
Discussion was held on the matter from the perspective of giving more and equal voice to every region in the Senate, having more political participation and balancing with the Lower House.
The Committee had a considered view that the membership of the Senate should not reduce to 96 but decided to deliberate it further as to whether the number should be increased
to 104 as it is now or to 100. – APP