In a decade Pakistan’s parliament made new laws, quite a lot of them actually

ISLAMABAD: In a short span of a decade, the Pakistani Parliament enacted a staggering 710 bills, overshadowing new additions in the Indian legislature by 141 per cent in comparison, according to findings by the Hum Investigation Team (HIT).

Between 2013 and 2023, out of 823 bills tabled, 710 received the nod of approval. A detailed breakdown indicates a sharper legislative focus from 2018 to 2023, with this term passing 41% more legislation than its predecessor. Notably, joint sessions proved a significant vehicle for law-making, with 91 bills sanctioned this way. Of these, 84 were approved between 2018 and 2023, dwarfing the seven approved from 2013 to 2018.

Breaking it down further, the years 2013 to 2018 saw 324 bills codified into law, while 386 were given legal status between 2018 to 2023.

The PTI government, during its 43-month tenure, endorsed 225 bills across both houses of the Parliament. The upper house, or Senate, passed 99, while the National Assembly, the lower house, gave its assent to 126. The subsequent 16-month rule by the PDM government witnessed approval for 112 bills in the Senate and 145 in the National Assembly, tallying a total of 257 bills.

On the matter of ordinances, a tool often used to bypass the parliamentary process, there were 1841 issued from 1973 to 2023. The period from 2013 to 2018 accounted for 38 of these, with a significant spike to 112 between 2018 and 2023.

The Senate and National Assembly’s individual contributions over the decade further highlight the balance of legislative activity. From 2013 to 2018, the Senate passed 163 bills to the National Assembly’s 161. In contrast, between 2018 and 2023, the Senate approved 191, slightly trailing the National Assembly’s 195.

A closer examination reveals that, over the entire 10-year span, the Senate approved 210 government bills and 136 private member bills. Between 2018 and 2023 alone, a total of 482 bills won approval across both houses: 211 from the Senate and 271 from the National Assembly.