January 8: PILDAT has launched the first-ever Citizens' Report on the Performance of the Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services - PIPS by recommending a need for the PIPS to work harder towards achieving its goals and objectives, greater transparency for its activities and a standard procedure for recruitment at the PIPS by the FPSC, among others.

The Performance Assessment launch was presided over by Syed Naveed Qamar, MNA and Member Board of PIPS, while Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan, MNA, PML-N, Mr. Ali Muhammad Khan, MNA, PTI, Mr. Iftikhar Ullah Babar, Former Secretary Senate, and Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, President PILDAT, shared their views, alongside a large number of Parliamentarians.

The Performance Assessment Report commissioned by PILDAT was mainly authored by Mr. Iftikhar Ullah Babar, Former Secretary Senate. A paper examining the role of a similar institute in India - the Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and Training (BPST) was also commissioned by PILDAT and was written by Mr. Ratan Lal Shali, former Director of the BPST. The Citizens' Report on the Performance of the Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services - PIPS and Challenges and Future Vision before Parliamentary Study Centres and Institutes can be accessed online at the PILDAT website.

Syed Naveed Qamar, MNA believed that the PIPS should take an initiative to create awareness and demand by reaching out to Parliamentarians and making it more accessible within the Parliament buildings. He highlighted that all the training courses have to be conducted in continuous cycles, which will help in creating demand from both Parliamentarians and the PIPS in research as well as trainings.

Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan, MNA, appreciated PILDAT's initiative on Citizens' Periodic Reports on the Performance of State Institutions and highlighted the need for legislators to develop a comprehensive understanding of Parliamentary traditions, rules, Parliamentary practices, law and policy drafting mechanism. He also stated that the PIPS must keep up with the dynamics of an evolving polity and address legislators’ needs more proactively and effectively.

Mr. Ali Muhammad Khan, MNA, said that the PIPS has not provided sustained capacity building and research support, especially to the first time Parliamentarians. The Institute has to work with Parliament, Provincial Government and Local Government tiers as well.

Earlier, giving an overview of the report, Mr. Iftikhar Ullah Babar, Former Secretary Senate, and the author of the report, said the idea of the PIPS was given in the Speakers' Conference of 2004, and officially started operating in 2006. It is a much-needed institute, particularly for a nascent democracy such as Pakistan. During the initial period of 3 years, the PIPS performed well, whereas in the years 2012-13 it was not much active as the Parliament was not in office. According to his assessment the large number of functions has diluted its strength. As it is, the PIPS has only focused on only 4 functions out of 12. Very significantly, it is supposed to bridge the gap between citizens and Parliamentarians, this duty however not yet been carried out.

In his welcome address Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, President-PILDAT, emphasized that the creation of the PIPS is a visionary and progressive initiative taken by the Parliamentarians and all those who were involved in the setting it up. He further explained that the PIPS was established through an Act of Parliament back in 2008 to promote research, provide training and to provide facility of information to the Parliamentarians in the performance of their duties. A state of the art facility was purpose-built in Islamabad for PIPS by USAID at a cost of over Rs. 1 billion.  A 22-member Board of Governors headed by Chairman Senate or Speaker National Assembly by rotation runs the affairs of the PIPS. Pakistan is one of the few countries of the developing world, which can boast the existence of such a dedicated facility for supporting Parliamentarians, Provincial Legislators, and Parliamentary staff. Its funding has been secured through the Act which is provided by the National Assembly, Senate and all the Provincial Assemblies. He underscored the significant of this Institute and for it to perform even better; it is imperative that citizens also take ownership.

Mr. Mehboob said that in addition to the in-depth analysis of Mr. Babar, we at PILDAT feel that the following points will also be useful for enhancing the performance, prestige and credibility of the PIPS.

The PIPS should strive for greater transparency of its operations by placing all its Annual Reports submitted to the Parliament on its website. Preparation and submission of the Annual Report is a statutory requirement as per the PIPS Act, 2008. (Ref. Section 17 of the Act)

Recruitment of the PIPS staff should be undertaken through the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) and their promotion should follow the pattern of the Central Superior Services of Pakistan where successful completion of courses at the National School of Public Policy is considered a pre-requisite for promotion at each stage. The Honourable incumbent Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan has set a noble precedent by ordering all senior inductions to the National Assembly Secretariat through the FPSC. The quality of human resource, with some noble exceptions, at the secretariats of the Senate, National Assembly, Provincial Assemblies and the Election Commission of Pakistan has suffered a great deal because of the policy of undertaking staff recruitments at the institutional level without involving an independent body such as the FPSC which is created for the very purpose of inducting senior civil servants into the service of Pakistan.

The PIPS should develop a progressive vision for itself to not only provide Research, Training and Information services to Pakistani Parliamentarians and staff but to the same segments in the region and especially focusing on the emerging democracies in the Muslim world.

The PIPS Board should very seriously take stock of the performance of the PIPS during the past six years and see how this promising institution can do full justice to its charter. A facility so rich in funds and physical infrastructure in the form of a state-of-the-art building should have performed better than is portrayed in the assessment report. For example, during the past four years (2010-2011 to 2013-2014), total budget of the PIPS was Rs. 453.126 Million of which it could manage to spend only Rs. 126.007 Million or only 28 % of the budget. (Ref. Table 2 of the report). The PIPS returned (surrendered) Rs. 320.186 Million back to its funders (Senate and National Assembly) during the past four years because the budgeted amount could not be utilized. (Ref. Table 3 of the Report).

The PIPS should urgently and seriously think through its mission especially in the realm of research and see how can it avoid duplication in the presence of Research Branches in each of the National and Provincial Legislatures.

In view of the dearth of timely availability of independent and objective analysis of the annual budgets both at the Federal and Provincial levels, the PIPS should seriously consider establishing a Parliamentary Budget Office for the purpose. Many countries in the world now have the parliamentary budget offices. The Canadian Parliament has an established parliamentary budget office for the past many years. The next-door Afghanistan Parliament also has its own budget office.

There has been some gap in provision of the PIPS services to the Provincial legislators. The PIPS should seriously consider how to bridge this gap especially after the 18th amendment when Provincial Assemblies have much greater responsibilities but weak capacity.

The PIPS, instead of focusing on recruiting full time senior sectoral experts, should consider establishing linkages with universities and independent think tanks to reinforce its research capability.

Establishing a modern digital cum traditional library at the PIPS is justified but having two almost similar libraries in the Senate and National Assembly should be discontinued and only one library should suffice within the parliament building.

Mr. Muhammad Rashid Mafzool Zaka, Director, Research and IT at the PIPS, while speaking at the forum, said that considering the PIPS is a new initiative and only in its formative stage; it is making its mark and emerging as an Institute that can be depended for providing value added capacity development programmes and research outputs.

Participating MPs at the Launch included Dr. Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, (MNA PML-N), Senator Saeeda Iqbal (PPPP), and member Board of the PIPS, Ms. Nafeesa Khattak (MNA, PTI), Dr. Fouzia Hameed, (MNA, MQM), Ms. Surriya Jatoi (MNA, PPPP) Mr. Khalil George (MNA, PML-N), Ms. Ayesha Syed (MNA, JI) Ms. Shahjehan Mangrio (MNA, NPP), Dr. Shahida Rehmani (MNA, PPPP), Ms. Kiran Haider (MNA, PML-N), Ms. Aasiya Naz Tanoli (MNA, PML-N), Ms. Shams-un-Nissa (MNA, PPPP) Ms. Amra Khan (MNA PML-N) Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtyar (MNA, PML-N), Mr. Sanjay Perwani (MNA MQM), Mr. Salman Khan Baloch (MNA, MQM) Senator Suruiya Amiruddin (PPP), Senator Osman Saifullah Khan (PPP), Ms. Saman Jafri (MNA MQM), and Dr. Nikhat Shakeel (MNA MQM). 3 representatives from the PIPS also joined the launch including representatives from civil society organisations and the news media.

The Citizens Report by PILDAT is part of a series of similar reports which PILDAT plans to release about the performance of various State institutions run by tax payers' money. These reports are a part of the Democracy and Governance project of PILDAT funded by DANIDA - the Danish Government through the Danish Embassy in Islamabad.