Lahore, September 28, Members of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab met with Honourable Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan, Speaker Provincial Assembly of the Punjab in the chair to discuss and find the ways to create a balance between the constituency and legislative responsibilities. The MPAs demanded that the local governments should be put in place so that the MPAs can concentrate on their role job of legislation.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, Executive Director, PILDAT highlighted that it was a tough job for the members to keep a balance between the legislative and the constituency responsibilities.

Syed Fakhr Imam, Former Speaker of the National Assembly and former Federal Minister, in his address stressed the need for setting up caucuses of the researchers within the legislature to facilitate the legislators. He said that the capacity of the legislators to legislate has increased but at the same time the set of problems needing legislation has also increased.

Dr. Ijaz Shafi Gillani, Chairman Gallup Pakistan, was of the opinion that in our system the Constituency work is rated as one of the biggest factors for getting elected to the legislature. If the legislators confine themselves only to the legislation it will be very difficult for them to get elected.

Mr. Nadeem Afzal Gondal, MNA and Chairman Public Accounts Committee National Assembly of Pakistan, said that system of developing policy expertise is missing in the political parties. He was of the opinion that the voters are now more curious about the performance of the MPAs and MNAs of their constituencies in the provincial and National assemblies. To create a balance between the constituency and legislative responsibilities he suggested that an elected member should spend at least 3 days in their constituencies. He also stressed the need of having local governments so that undue pressures on the MPAs and MNAs can be reduced.

Mr. Ijaz Ahmed Khan, MPA (PP-151, Lahore-XV, PML-N), while addressing the gathering stressed the need for educating the voter. He was of the opinion that the systems should be developed and made strong so that the elected member does not have to get un-necessarily involved in personal problems of the voters. He also stressed the need for building the capacity of the institutions.

Honourable Speaker, Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan, MPA (PP-184, Kasur �X, PML-N), while addressing the gathering thanked PILDAT and termed the briefing session as very useful and stressed that legislation and constituency politics should go hand in hand and the elected members should not lose contact with their voters. He paid tribute to PILDAT for taking up different issues and said that the delibrations facilitated by PILDAT are taken very seriously by the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab. The Assembly strives to implement the suggestions put forward in PILDAT workshops also.

The forum was followed by an intense question hour session by MPAs. The session was attended by Members of the Punjab Assembly, senior bureaucrats and officials of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab.

The Briefing Session was held by PILDAT under the Parliamentary and Political Party Strengthening Project II which is funded through Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). The project is implemented jointly by the Parliamentary Centre, Canada and PILDAT.