The long-standing deadlock between the government and opposition parties came to an end right before the budget as 13 standing committees of senate have been reconstituted and their chairpersons have been chosen too.
According to rules, the existence of standing committees before the budget session is mandatory as budget recommendations from finance, planning and other standing committees are a constitutional requirement.
The standing committees are considered mini-legislatures where policy issues are perused in light of which solutions are proposed.
Each ministry has a representative standing committee that keeps a check on the ministry and holds accountability.
Read Also
Rebuking of Diplomats by Imran Khan Comes to Fruition
There are more than 35 committees in the Senate including functional and standing committees.
All of them become dysfunctional after every three years as some senators retire.
These panels are constituted all over again after the inclusion of newly-elected senators.
The upper house was sans standing and functional panels for over 75 days after its election concluded on March 12 with voting for chairman and deputy chairman.
The deadlock between the government and opposition blocked the formation of new panels with the inclusion of new senators and all efforts in this regard had produced no result.
The establishment of the standing committees had become necessary before the budget session as all tabled bills are redirected to them.
The standing and functional panels including finance, interior, law and justice, and human rights are considered important as they have representation of federal units. Apart from this, the committees also include technocrats.
According to Senate rules, a senator can be a member of five standing committees at a time.
The following senators will head 11 reformed standing committees of senate and two functional committees.
- Mushahid Hussain Syed, Defence Production
- Senator Sherry Rehman, Foreign Affairs
- Senator Faisal Subzwari, Industry and Production
- Manzoor Ahmed Kakar, Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development
- Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmed, Cabinet Secretariat
- Senator Syed Ali Zafar, Law and Justice
- Senator Faisal Javed, Information and Broadcasting
- Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmed, Cabinet Secretariat
- Senator Muhammad Abdul Qadir, Petroleum
- Senator Saifullah Abro, Energy
- Senator Taj Haider, Parliamentary Affairs
- Senator Mushtaq Ahmed, Functional committee on Devolution
- Senator Kamal Ali Agha, Functional committee on Government Assurances