ISLAMABAD: Outgoing Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani Friday warned all state institutions to override their egos to avoid confrontation and maintain supremacy of constitution. The outgoing chairman said there was an immediate need for inter-institutional dialogue to bury the insinuations of clash between different state institutions. He stressed that for the country to function smoothly, each institution must work within its constitutional ambit. “Army is an institution as well and it comes under the executive,” Rabbani stressed. “We need to introspect and see if we have committed a mistake,” he insisted, and criticised the politicians for leaving a ‘space’ in the parliament. Rabbani was of the view that in order to maintain the supremacy of the parliament, Article 89 of the constitution (power of president to promulgate ordinances) must be ‘deleted’. The outgoing chairman said that every political party has been making hue and cry over alleged horse-trading in the recent Senate elections but parliamentary leaders of all these parties have rejected a report adopted by the Senate Committee as a Whole for stopping the use of money in polls. The report, which he said was adopted by Senate in May 2016, recommended that every MNA/MPA should right his name on the ballot paper for Senate elections. And if any party raises objections over its MNA or MPA, his ballot paper might be checked for verification. Rabbani said the report was sent to the parliamentary committee on electoral reforms but all the political parties rejected the proposal in one strike with a view that secrecy of the vote should not be compromised. Rabbani said that direct voting for Senate election was also not a solution of the issue. He said the basic philosophy behind the Senate indirect election is that provincial legislators should select their representatives in the federation. In such a way, the provincial legislators may think that they were equally represented at the federal level. He was of the view that there was great wisdom behind the indirect election for Senate. Rabbani said that he never compromised on supremacy of constitution and writ of the law during his tenure in the Upper House of parliament. While terming late Benazir Bhutto as his political mother, Rabbani apprised senators that he started his political career as a common political worker. He was all praise for the senators who made it possible for him to run the House smoothly. “It was due to the collective leadership of the Senate not just the chairman that this House was able to be run,” he said. “I am thankful to them and I beg pardon also because I understand that there were instances when, as I sat here, I spoke with severity. It was not because the Senate chairmanship was clouding my mind ? I am a darvesh man, I have tried to kill my ego ? it was because it appeared to be the best way for this House to function,” he explained. He credited his success as a political worker to two women: his mother and his ‘political mother’, slain PPP leader Benazir Bhutto. “I took oath as Senate chairman on March 12, 2015, and declared my assets in the very first session. Today again, I have presented my assets to the Senate secretariat,” he said. Rabbani said he had always strived to abide by Bhutto’s legacy of never compromising on principles. As chairman of the Senate, he hoped that his name would be written among those who always upheld the supremacy of the parliament. Published in Daily Times, March 10th 2018.