86
primarily means that these branches are not independent of each other, but
interdependent.
359
The executive branch as in the UK is created from the legislative
branch. The judiciary on the other hand has some level of theoretical independence.
The Parliament is comprised of two houses like the US Congress and its composition
is extremely similar to the earlier US congress where the upper house was elected
by the state legislature. There is an office of the
President, who is elected by the
parliament and is merely a ceremonial figurehead. Parliamentary seats are allocated
by way of proportional representation.
Seat allocation on the basis of population proportionality is pragmatic and logical
and the arrangement is similar to that of the US House of Representatives. The
issue arises when the constitution allows one federating unit to form a government
for the rest of the union. Under the US political system, one or some states cannot
control the fate of other states, there are safeguards to prevent any such eventuality.
For instance, direct elections of state senators, representatives and the separate
election of the president are three distinct powers in a triangular relationship. It is
theoretically possible under the US political system to have one party in the majority
in the lower house, a second party in the majority
in the upper house and a
president belonging to a third party. This clearly indicates that it is not possible for
one state in the USA to monopolise government for the rest of the union.
In theory the Senate of Pakistan, like that of the USA, is composed with the aim of
giving equal representation to all the federating units in order to promote national
unity and maintain coordination. The tenure of its members is set in a similar way
to the USA, that is six years, and half of its members are required to retire every
three years. Like the early US Senate, Pakistan's senators are indirectly elected by
the legislatures of the federating units. This method of indirect election was
abandoned by the USA following the 17th amendment to the constitution. It is
argued that the reasons for the USA abandoning the indirect method are equally
applicable to Pakistan, in pursuit of more transparent representation of the
federating units.
The Constitution established the upper house
for a reason, which is to preserve
equal representation in the federation primarily because the popularly elected lower
359
Constitution of Pakistan, Part III.
87
house of parliament is dominated by Punjab province which is more than half of
Pakistan's population.
360
The problem of disparity is particularly acute in Pakistan because there is not only
a disparity of representation in the lower house, but it which translates into
disparity in the upper house that is meant to represent provinces equally. It is
argued, indeed, that federating units in Pakistan
are unable to obtain two
dimensional representation as the selection of senators is by indirect election and
senators do not play any role in forming a government which is the prerogative of
the lower house only. It is also a common practice to secure a seat by using financial
or other political influence. This is also known as 'political-horse trading'.
361
Comparing this with the US triangle of lower house, upper house and executive
head, Pakistan's upper house is ineffective because senators do not reflect the true
representation in the second dimension due to their indirect election. The lower
house and upper house both can therefore be, and usually are, controlled by one
province or the party that wins in that province.
With the upper house ineffective in terms of representing the provinces, it would
not be exaggerating to simply conclude that Pakistan's political system is a de facto
unitary government.
The USA and Pakistan clearly are, therefore, different in their political systems. The
USA is a federation with a presidential form of government, which conforms, to a
greater extent, to the factors of democratic federalism selected for use in this thesis.
The US Congress is entirely different from its colonial predecessor (the UK) whereas
Pakistan has eventually adopted more of a Westminster model where the upper
house has a completely different function.
In Pakistan, the parliament controls the executive, which is composed of the leader
of the majority party and his cabinet (ministers). The USA, on the other hand, has
Congress and the President unconnected to each other. Congress cannot remove
the secretaries nor are secretaries present in Congress
to answer any questions
from either of the houses. The prime minister of Pakistan can get the National
360
ibid.
361
This term is widely used in Pakistan by Pakistani officials including party leaders and journalists
to refer to Senate elections for example Tariq Butt, 'Political foes on same page to curb horse-
trading'
Pakistan Telegraph (Islamabad, 28 February 2015).
88
Assembly dissolved by advising the president, but the US President cannot dissolve
Congress before the end of its term.
Pakistan has been under the dictatorship of military rulers for more than half of its
existence as a country. However, the current political system,
albeit branded as
democratic, is also dictatorial, as the prime minister and his cabinet can take
decisions without any checks from other bodies such as the judiciary. The US
Congress has more operative control over the cabinet than the Parliament of
Pakistan has over the cabinet. Cabinet is part of the Parliament under Pakistan's
political system, but the US cabinet is not part of Congress.
In conclusion, the political system of Pakistan does not fulfil the concept of equal
representation in the second dimension and the doctrine of separation of powers is
not manifested in its parliamentary arrangement. The US political
system on the
other hand, has found and implemented a solution to uphold equality of
representation in the second dimension i.e. federating units.
The next section goes on to consider the judiciary, which is the third element of
government structure and is clearly significant as the custodian of the constitution
and guardian of democracy.
Dostları ilə paylaş: