ISLAMABAD: For more openness and transparency, the Punjab Assembly Secretariat has improved the outlook of its website at the advent of new parliamentary year in a bid to achieve the standards set out by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

The IPU – the world’s largest parliamentary organization with 178 members and 12 Associate members – is considered to be a focal point for worldwide parliamentary discussions and nurturing healthy traditions in representative democracies.

Being a global parliamentary body of which Pakistan is a member, IPU has recommended certain guidelines for the parliamentary websites. These recommendations suggest the content to be shared on the websites, tools to communicate parliamentary information and ensure oversight functions through promoting links between the parliamentary websites and government/civil society websites.

The newly designed website of the Punjab Assembly is a good attempt to provide key information about parliamentary proceedings and an opportunity to review the performance of the elected House. However, it needs to be converted into an interactive platform between the lawmakers and the public so that two-way communication between people and their elected representatives would be ensured.

As soon as the website page is opened (www.pap.gov.pk), the picture of the Speaker Punjab Assembly and that of Assembly Hall are visible on the screen. The information regarding the Assembly’s Secretariat, its Members, number of Standing Committees, Assembly’s Business and the material for media consumption, reports and publications can be accessed on the front page.

By scrolling down further, we can find the Speaker’s message, notifications, details of the Assembly’s Business, legislation, performance statistics, committees’ performance, press releases, parliamentary calendar and the functioning of Punjab Assembly’s Library.

The website also tells about the birthdays of the elected members, their alliances with the government and the performance statistics of each session. It is hoped that the website would improve further and become a window for the people of Punjab to have an interaction with their elected members and see their performance on the floor of the House.