Working Parliament

The Parliament stands for work for the public and the country. All efforts should, therefore, be focused for not obstructing it. All current members of the parliament understand it well and the political parties represented in it know the sensitivity of working parliament. Disagreements among ruling and opposition parties should be tackled through political understanding and proper democratic communication among them. Neglecting the point would not be helpful for the parliamentary process. Two major functions of the parliament – endorsing the government policies and programmes for the next fiscal year and getting the 2024-2025-annual budget adopted – have to be completed within some weeks. Both documents are very essential for enabling the country move forward for addressing the aspirations of the people and continuing the developmental tasks. Any disturbance in this regard would create complicated problems in governance and pursuit of rule of law. Moreover, next fiscal year is the beginning of the new five-year plan. Because of this, the discussion on the two documents and the plan is considered very important. If the parliament is not allowed to function normally, expected deliberation would not be possible. This will create a complicated situation. To avoid that the political parties represented in the parliament should at least agree to make the parliament-floor clear for functioning. All the points they would like to raise for or against the government, for or against the policies, plan or the budget, they are free to do that through the procedures of parliament. Obstructing the House, they should understand, would not be in the public interest. It could satisfy some partisan ego or scheme but the same could not serve the public interest. The interest of the people who had voted for the members of parliament are just observing how the political parties and other members are behaving in the parliamentary floor. They are capable of comparing their poll pledge to their performance in the highest legislature. Since today’s parliament is the result of a great electoral process, the members should understand that they should not let down those who participated with enthusiasm in the process two years ago. They will have to face the people in the next three years. That is why all parties concerned should make it a priority to allow the parliament function and take up its schedule for performance. A functional parliament would always enhance the personality of the members. What they have to remember is their commitment to democratic principles and political morality standards.