LEGISLATIVE PROCESSES AND PRACTICES IN PAKISTAN: A PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF PEOPLE’S PARTY PARLIAMENTARIAN (PPPP) DURING 2008-2013

Purpose: The present study intends to analyze the Pakistan People’s Party government period from 2008 to 2013 after the demise of its leader Benazir Bhutto. The study is about the PPPP government on the issue of legislation in the parliament so a qualitative method is used for this purpose. Method: The topic is related to legislation, so the primary and secondary sources used with the complete lists of legislation from 2008-2013 from the parliament websites and documents. Main Findings: It was found that the legislative process was fast during the PPPP regime. Still, some areas of governance remained neglected like health, education, energy, etc. Overall the democratic values and coalition strategies supported the government in the completion of its tenure. Application of the Study: It is recommended that ruling elites must focus on good governance and citizens' well-being rather than their opposition. Novelty/originality of the study: This study has a distinction from other studies in the sense that the way of the legislative process of PPP has never been assessed before in the context of their performance. This study will make able to understand the importance of PPP’s government in place of democratic norms


INTRODUCTION
The era from 1947 to 1956 was viewed as the reshuffling of governments regularly and delayed the constitutionmaking process. It had enfeebled the Federation of Pakistan (Mustafa, 2021). The inability of the political elite to address the issues of the country surfaced the way for martial law intrusion in the country. The continuous military intervention with short intervals of democratic episodes from 1958 to 2008 further undermined the legislative process. The democratic governments too were busier in the business of leg-pulling rather than their main duty legislation. The constitutional amendments that were introduced from 1973 onwards were also criticized on the same grounds of elitism. The 8 th , 15 th , and 17 th Amendments are the examples of military elite's protection and interests rather than public well-being .
The period from 2008-2018 is unique in constitutional history, when first-time the democratic transition of power transferred to the next government successfully (Khan,2021). From 2008-2013, PPPP came into power and the internal situation of the country was extremely unstable but; abundant attention was paid to the legislative process in the parliament. Dwindle in the presidential powers in Asif Ali Zardari era, devolution of powers from Center to provinces under the 18 th Amendment, North West Frontier Province (NWFP) named Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. These efforts were made to mitigate the issues. (Ali,2021). The 7 th National Finance Commission (NFC) award under which more resources were transferred from the Center to the provinces could be termed a milestone in legislative history. The Baluchistan fiscal ratio increased and it directly benefited from the NFC award. Moreover, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB) statuses were also changed through legislation during this tenure (Munir, 2021). Moreover, the bills that were for the public welfare were The Anti Money Laundering Bill (2009), Competition Act (2010), Election Laws (Amendment) Act (2011), Industrial Relations Act (2012), Anti-Terrorism (Second Amendment) Act, (2013) were introduced in this era (Ali,2021).
The performances of the PPPP if evaluate in regards to relief given to the masses can seriously be challenged. The idea of good governance that the masses dreamt of since the establishment of Pakistan remained a problem unresolved. The issues of terrorism, sectarianism, weakening law and order status quo in Baluchistan and FATA, and lack of financial and social security could attract an apt retort from the parliament. The economy endured horrible conditions with incessant charges of sleaze and mismanagement of funds. The episode was working along the same lines since independence where people still have the charisma of personalities. Still, the politics in the country is gyrating around political personalities. There is a dire need to evaluate the performance of the political governments who are representing the people. One way that the government performs, is to assess its performance in the parliament. The factual analysis of the parliament's performance reveals the real face of the political elite in the country. The tenure 2008-2013 is unique in the sense that continuity of the

METHODOLOGY
The study is about the PPPP government on the issue of legislation in the parliament so qualitative method is used for this purpose. As the topic is related to legislation so this purpose the websites of the National Assembly and Senate were used as the complete list of legislation from 2008-2013 can be accessed from there. Moreover, PPPP performance analysis whether it was up to the mark or not; books, newspapers, research articles, and authentic websites were cited. Besides, renowned jurists and academicians were also interviewed to analyze the constitutional amendments that were introduced to the constitution of Pakistan during this tenure. The quantitative approach is also used in the study to analyze the number of seats of parties and the legislative works done by the PPP.

DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS Pakistan People's Party (PPP)
The PPP is a social-democratic third largest political party in Pakistan. It was founded in 1967 when left-wing politicians stand united next to the martial administrator General Ayub Khan, headed by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Since its foundation, it has been a foremost left-of-Center power in Pakistan. It is most popular in Sindh rural areas (Gill, 2021). The PPP remained in power five times in 1970, 1977, 1988, 1993, and 2008 while in 1990, 1997, 2002, and 2013 it held the opposition benches and four Prime Ministers from PPP governed Pakistan (Khan,2021). It had dominated during the 1970s, tormenting a fleeting beg-off during the Zia-ul-Haq dictatorship. After the demise of Zia in 1988, a two-party arrangement developed, consisting of PPP and Islamic Democratic Alliance, by the Nawaz League. The party also served as the opposition to General Musharraf's military rule from 1999 to 2008. The party governed Pakistan after the demise of Benazir Bhutto and remained in power from 2008 to 2013.

Legislative Performance of the PPPP Government (2008-2013)
The country returned to the democratic phase after the elections of 2008. The PPPP government succeeded to form the government in the Center with provincial governments in Sindh and Baluchistan. The hopes were high and the task was also huge for the government in power better governance . The country was passing through the phase of the War on Terrorism and in a warlike situation, achieving the target of better governance was not the easy one. The parliament, the supreme institution in the country, can be considered a platform where the baseline of good governance starts (Qadir, 2021). Various steps were taken in the field of legislation by the PPPP government to improve the performance of parliament like the introduction of the 18 th amendment, opposition representation in the committees, empowering the opposition, and legislation in the social fields.

The centralism of Parliament in Self-governing
Democracy is considered a system of ethics that works in an explicit institutional framework. There are two basic values mandatories for democracy and those values are self-rule for citizens and the impartiality of citizens. The values and their relationship with the citizens are defined by the state's institutional structures and processes like the protection of citizens' rights, and the response of the government, civil society, political parties, and media. Parliament, the supreme institution in any form of government, plays the role of mediator between citizens and the government . On one hand, the parliament exerts its power with the will of the citizens to govern the country while on the other hand, it also introduces the system of checks and balances to protect the rights of the citizens. It is for this that the recent literature found on the subject places the parliament as the central institution in a democracy.
In modern democracies, parliaments play the role of agents of the people. In this capacity, parliament tries to deal with other branches of government and institutions for the interests of its people. Parliament, of course, does this role if it is powerful otherwise it can miserably fail to achieve its basic objectives of giving relief to the people. It can be concluded that elections are not the only requirement to fill the parliament; rather able representatives are also a necessary part of parliament. The elections merely serve as a bridge for the representatives to reach the parliament and it is not sufficient for a stable democratic system. For the functioning of a democratic system representatives must be able to play their role and serve the people. Failing to serve the people would mean a loss of support and a weakness in the democratic system.

Contextualizing the Era of Democracy in Pakistan (2008 -2013)
The era from 1947 to 1958 could be termed a period of extreme political instability where seven prime ministers came to power due to political instability (Batool, 2021). The dissolution of elected governments took place during this era when Ghulam Muhammad dissolved the constituent assembly to protect his interests. Decades repeated the same prototype in the 1990s when Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif came to power twice . Unfortunately, both leaders failed to complete their tenures and hence it was said that achieving the goal of a stable democratic system in Pakistan was impossible. However, after the Musharraf tenure elections were held in 2008, and from here started a unique era in Pakistan's history where not only the PPPP government succeeded to complete its tenure of five years (Khan,2021). The transfer of power took place twice in these ten years and peacefully to the civilian government after the elections. The performance of the parliament in this decade would be important to contextualize the economic, political, and social context of parliament's continuity in the country (Kapoor, 2021).

Party Position after General Elections 2008
After nine years of Musharraf's rule, the PPP under the leadership of Asif Ali Zardari hold the power after General Elections and established democratic governments. The election of 2008 witnessed the victory of the PPPP as the party got 97 general seats in the elections while PMLN remained in second place with 71 general seats. Other major parties that managed to reach the parliament were PMLQ with 42 seats, MQM with 19 seats, and ANP with 10 seats. Independents managed to get 18 seats in the 2008 election (Behera, 2018). The total number of seats including women-reserved seats is shown in the table below.

Legislation in the Parliament (2008-2013)
Legislation or lawmaking is the basic responsibility of parliament no matter what kind of political system there is i.e. Presidential, Parliamentary, or Hybrid. The PPPP government came into power after the General Elections-2008 and Asif Zardari and Yousaf Raza Gillani were elected as head of the State and prime minister. The areas where PPPP's government focused like women empowerment, minority rights, electoral reforms, money laundering, and terrorism attracted applause and criticism at the same time (Shafiq, 2020). For some, these laws were good to address the real issues while for some these legislations were failures because they failed to address the real problems of the nations. It was the 13 th Assembly from 2008-2013 that tried to restore the constitution of 1973 into its original form through the 18 th Amendment however received criticism as well.

Legislative Achievements
The National Assembly's first session was held in March 2008 and the last session was held on 16 March 2013 by the PPPP government. During this tenure, the legislative business was carried out by PPPP. The overall political and monetary condition keep on under question and many scholars declared PPP's regime as fickle and volatile (Shafiq, 2020). However, the PPPP government performed better in the areas of legislation where they succeeded in bringing the constitution of 1973 into its original form. The step of passing the 18 th amendment from the parliament was welcomed by many in Pakistan but at the same time, it received criticism from some on the pretext of weakening the Center . Furthermore, the electoral reforms in 2013 and the Independent Election Commission were even greater achievements of the PPPP government. Effective voter registration was welcomed by everyone in the country. Many laws were passed by the parliament during the PPPP tenure including the Anti Money-Laundering Act of 2010, the Competition Act of 2010, the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2013, and electoral reforms of 2013 that brought better governance in the country. However, the 18 th Amendment was the most important one that introduced amendments in more than 100 articles of the Constitution and therefore needed to be discussed in detail.

th Amendment
The Constitution of 1973 witnessed 25 amendments after its formation. Seven amendments were made to the constitution during the era of Bhutto who was the then chief planner of the constitution. Out of these amendments, two were those which changed the basic parliamentary character of the constitution and created an imbalance between the powers of the Prime Minister and President. Under the 8 th Amendment during the Zia regime and again under the 17 th Amendment during the Musharraf regime, the President was given exceptional powers including the power to dissolve the national and provincial assemblies (Arshad, 2018).
The powers of the Prime Minister were reduced and resultantly political instability in the country prevailed. The 13 th National Assembly came into existence in March 2008 and the most important feature of that assembly was the restoration of the constitution through the 18 th Amendment passed in April 2010. Under this amendment, the powers of the president to dissolve the assemblies were taken back that were given to him under the 17 th Amendment. Out of the whole 280 Articles in the constitution, about 102 Articles were amended, substituted, added, or deleted (Arshad, 2018). Before the 18th amendment, the country was highly centralized and provinces were given fewer powers however the introduction of the new amendment witnessed the transfer of ministries and divisions to the provinces resulting in the empowerment of provinces . Nearly 17 ministries/divisions were transferred to provinces including education, culture, environment, labour, health, local government (LG) and rural expansion, population safety, minority affairs, social wellbeing, special education, tourism, sports, women progress, and zakat and usher. The step of devolving more powers to the provinces brought a pattern move in the structural silhouettes of Pakistan from a severely centralized to a largely decentralized federation. The apparatus for sharing verdict-making and the administration of inter-provincial relations was reinforced by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) (Syed, 2020).

Strengthening the Senate of Pakistan
The 18 th Amendment strengthened the Senate of Pakistan through various changes.
• The upper house membership was increased and the total membership became 104 when four added seats were reserved for minorities.
• No ordinance can be issued when the Senate is in session.
• The Federal Cabinet would be responsible to both houses of the parliament National Assembly and Senate • There will be equal membership of Senators and members from the Senate and National Assembly for the judges' appointment board.
• Appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), there will be one-third membership from Senate • The reports regarding the NFC, CCI, and Auditor General of Pakistan should also be submitted to Senate which was previously submitted to the national assembly only.

Judicial Appointments
Under the 18 th amendment, a seven judicial commission was formed under the chairmanship of the Chief Justice of Pakistan who is authorized to suggest an applicant for a High Court or Supreme Court post (excluding the chief justice post of a superior court, which is occupied by the most senior judge of the pertinent bench. Once a nomination is finalized by the judicial commission then the three-fourth majority in the parliamentary committee is needed for the appointment of a judge (Syed, 2020).

Anti-Money Laundering Act (2010)
In Pakistan, currency laundering was first discussed as an offence under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997. The act was about the terrorist activities in the country and finances that supported terrorism in the countries. The seizure, freezing, and forfeiture of assets were recommended under this Act (Butt, 2020). As money laundering created troubles for Pakistan on an international level, therefore to curb this crime, regulatory authorities introduced anti-money laundering measures as regulations. State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) which is the regulator of the monetary policy of the country issued in 2003 a regulation to safeguard the banks from money laundering (Zia, 2021).

Gender-sensitive Legislation
Women are most of the time victimized in a patriarchal society like Pakistan where males are considered the dominant position holders. Women's empowerment took its roots in the tenure of Musharraf when women's representation was increased in Parliament. Zardari era from 2008-2013 witnessed several legislations that were introduced to protect the rights of women in the working places (Khan, 2020). The first step in this direction was the start of "The protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act "in 2010.

Failure to Repeal NAB Ordinance
The first step in this direction was the introduction of EBDO and PODO by Ayub Khan for the accountability of politicians and bureaucrats. The efforts continued by various governments in Pakistan through different means and channels. However, the process of accountability was never praised by the masses in the country. The decade of the 1990s witnessed massive corruption, political instability, and extreme polarization in the country. Both Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif charged each other with corruption and took steps to teach lessons (Khan, 2020).
Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were in exile during the Musharraf regime and during this time they signed the Charter of Democracy (CoD). The most important point in the CoD was the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as a neutral and independent accountability commission (Syed, 2020).

Education
Before the Musharraf regime focus was on Primary and Secondary level education. Musharraf diverted its attention toward higher education and replaced the PPPP Government's focus during 2008-2013 on the setting up of new universities and institutions in the country. The majority of the legislation apart from the right to compulsory education of 2012 was related to the establishment of new institutions. While the Zardari government was trying to establish new institutions UNICEF and UNESCO information about Pakistan suggested that Pakistan may not be able the goals set up in the Millennium Development Goals (MIDs) by the UN (Syed,2020).

Health
It is estimated that more than 60% of fatalities that are caused by diseases are waterborne and present all over the country in the shape of polluted water. Heart attacks, cancer, and HIV are the major cause of death in the West while most Pakistanis suffered from Diarrhea, Hepatitis, and Polio, diseases that long ago wiped out in the West. During the PPPP government, the same pattern was repeated where more focus was on policy-making while concrete steps like the establishment of research institutes, hospitals, etc. were neglected. Another striking feature of the PPPP government regarding the legislation is that the majority of the bills were Private Bills showing the negligence of the government in the healthcare system.

Environment
The World Bank report of 2010 presented the opposite picture declaring Pakistan as one of the most water-stressed countries. Sanitation, garbage, reservation of water, and air and water pollution are the areas that should be addressed by the government through legislation. Unfortunately, the PPPP government from 2008-2013 did not give attention to this grave issue that could be a security issue in the future. Interesting to note here that Asif Ali Zardari served as minister for the environment in the previous government of PPPP but he also ignored this sector . Only two bills became law and that too was regarding wildlife and both the bills were Private Members' Bills.

Poverty Alleviation
Pakistan's population is about 200 million and as a developing nation consequently, the scourge of poverty haunts a considerable number of populations in the country. According to the Human Development Report of 2013, Pakistan was a country where nearly 49% population was facing multidimensional poverty while there was a threat that 11% more population would be in the grip of multidimensional poverty within two or three years. Fight against poverty, when we look at the legislation of the PPPP government, the only considerable achievement was the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP). According to the BISP, every needy person was given an amount that could help him or her to some extent. The BISP program was provided with a constitutional cover to protect it in the future from abandonment by any government . The direct monetary injections to the poor are the latest concept and the same was repeated in the shape of BISP which was appreciated by global organizations. Some legislation was made in the parliament regarding the pensioners; reinstatement of employees, and disabled persons however the impact of this legislation was not considerable as the target population was quite less. Some of the legislations during the PPPP government were Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (Amendment) Act, 2009, BISP 2010, and Pakistan Food Safety for needy persons Bill, 2012. Only BISP was the government bill while the other two were private members' bills.

• Legislation
Legislation is the primary function for which the people send their representatives to the parliament. The 13 th National Assembly came into existence after the elections were held in 2008 (Mufti, 2021). Since then the volume of legislation increased as compared to the previous assemblies. During 2008-2013, when the PPPP government was in power 116 government bills and 18 private members bills were tabled in the parliament. Out of these bills, 94 translated into laws while the remaining bills did not reach this stage (Khan, 2020).

• Private Member bills (PMBs)
In the traditional parliamentarian form of government, usually, government-sponsored bills are given priority over the PMBs. However, the trend of PMBs becoming laws has increased in Pakistan since 2008. The PMBs introduced in the parliament during this tenure were mostly focused on societal matters like children, women's rights, prevention of corruption, reduction of radicalism, health issues and national accountability (FAFEN,2013). During the PPPP government, a total of 189 PMBs were introduced in the parliament out of which 18 bills were passed by National Assembly while only 10 bills became laws (FAFEN,2013). The increase in number of PMBs to become law was increased if we compare it to previous governments. For example, during the tenure of the 12 th National Assembly, 70 PMBs were tabled while only one bill became law. It was the third PMB that became law after 1985(FAFEN,2013).

• Question Answer Session
Democracy is a system where every member is answerable to the parliament, especially the ministers. Ministers are responsible for their ministries and they answer the question raised by the parliamentarians. Whenever the National Assembly starts its session, the foremost time of every sitting of the National Assembly except on Tuesday and Senate except on Monday were reserved for the questions. These types of questions were asked in the parliament i.e. Starred, Un-starred and supplementary.     During the PPPP government total of 243 resolutions were moved in the National Assembly while only 85 were adopted by the House. PMLN being the major opposition party moved the majority of the resolutions out of which only 17 were adopted in the National Assembly. Most of the resolutions passed during this tenure were related to terrorism, foreign affairs, democracy, religion, land reforms, missing persons, target killings, and social issues like women's rights etc. (FAFEN,2013). In Senate, during the PPPP government, 361 resolutions were moved out of which only 20 were adopted.  Committees are an integral part of the Parliament. Committees are inseparable parts of the parliament because the business of the parliament depends on committees. Legislators used the input of committees provided to them through critical and thorough analysis for criticism or appreciation. Senate defines the committee as "political nerve ends, the gatherers of information, and the sifters of alternatives, the refiners of legislative detail, and the eyes and ears of the Parliament" (FAFEN,2013). A strong committee system is the essence of the functioning of the democratic system in the country. The committee provided insight into an issue to the legislators that are not only compulsory for the working of ministers but also serves the best interests of the people. In both houses of the parliament, the chairperson of the committee is elected by the members of that committee. In the National Assembly, the membership of the committee shall not be more than twenty members and the elections of the members of the committee shall be held within thirty days after the ascertainment of the leader of the house. Moreover, ministers, ministers of the state, or advisors cannot be the chairperson of the committee. After resuming back, the democratic phase in 2008, the composition of the committees had been changed and more representation has been given to the opposition parties.

Legislation in National Assembly (2008-2013)
All credit goes to the PPPP government which introduced the rule to give the chairmanship of the committee based on their Party's representation in the legislature. During this period almost all the parliamentary parties were given the chairmanship of various standing committees. Out of 32 standing committees in the National Assembly, PMLN got the chairmanship of seven committees while PML received the chairmanship of nine committees. Standing history has a long history in the country however the committees were not as active as it is nowadays (FAFEN,2013). It was decided in the CoD that committees would be functional and more importantly the chairmanship of the most important committee "Public Account Committee" was given to the opposition. The PAC is considered to be the most powerful committee established for accountability purposes. During the PPPP government 2008-2013, the total number of committees was 46 in the National Assembly after the 18 th amendment. The standing committees held 1239 meetings during 2008-2013.

CONCLUSION
The General Elections 2008 were striking for rhapsodizing the restoration of democracy in Pakistan subjugated by "Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians (PPPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), and Awami National Party

Resolutions in Senate (2008-2013)
(ANP)" coalition government. The 13th Assembly processed 134 bills out of 116 forwarded by the treasury. The rest of all bills were sponsored by private members or privately. In the former assembly, National Assembly from 2002-07 passed about 51 bills. Three amendments were also constituted by the PPPP government's term. The 18th Amendment curtailed presidential powers and successfully transformed the country into a parliamentary democratic State. The 19th Amendment introduced judicial reform and the establishment High Court (IHC) in Islamabad. The appointments of the judges would craft by the Judicial Council of Pakistan whereas the 20th Amendment gave the ECP a greater bend over the issue of the set-up of an interim government and carrying out the general elections in the country. Legislation regarding, health, disasters, women's rights, and the economy was also made bud many issues remained from 2008 to 2013. The country faced a bad energy crisis and a fall in the economy. The legislation process was fast track and major constitutional parts were, removed, repel and added.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
The research is limited to analyzing the legislative measures of the PPPP Government and obstacles faced by the Government during the period are not observed. The research suggests proper implementation of those laws that were constituted during the said period.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Financial support from any corner is not involved.