The Senate of Pakistan was envisioned as the House of the Federation: the guardian of federal balance, provincial autonomy, and continuity in law-making. It was meant to be the moral and constitutional compass of a diverse nation, ensuring that Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, Karachi, and Gilgit all found equal voice in Islamabad. But what was built to be a pillar of federal democracy has, over the decades, been reduced to a quiet corridor of protocol and privilege.

Today, the Senate stands institutionally hollowed out, politically captured, and intellectually disengaged. Senators, once expected to be the custodians of provincial integrity and national wisdom, have become largely disconnected from the provinces they claim to represent. The process of their selection, conducted behind closed doors through opaque political bargaining, has stripped the Senate of its democratic soul. What should have been a chamber of reflection has become an arena of convenience.

A House Without Debate

In theory, the Senate exists to elevate the quality of law-making through deliberation and restraint. In practice, it has lost both its voice and its vigour. The average attendance rate of Senators in key sessions rarely exceeds 50 percent, and even when present, participation is shallow. Speeches are repetitive, research is scarce, and the agenda is dominated by party dictates rather than provincial priorities.

There are 104 Senators in Pakistan, each representing a slice of the federation. Yet, few can articulate the socio-economic realities of their provinces, and even fewer engage in legislative analysis grounded in data or comparative reasoning. The Senate’s committee system, theoretically the engine of parliamentary oversight, remains underpowered and underutilised. Reports gather dust, hearings are perfunctory, and ministries rarely feel the heat of meaningful scrutiny. In the last five years, not more than a dozen committee reports have triggered any national policy shift.

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© The Friday Times