If not at a standstill, parliament is moving at a snail’s pace — even slower, in fact. The legislative bills passed by the lower house of parliament in more than five months of its constitution can be counted on finger tips. Legislators in the lower house hardly seem to have any business other than slinging mud at their rivals on one issue or the other. Uproar is the order of the day in the National Assembly, with treasury and opposition members appearing to be locked in a duel of who can shout louder, and who can come up with a wittier jaw-breaking reply — completely neglecting that it is legislation, the core business of parliament, that is the only sufferer of a non-stop war of words between them.
A fresh bout of verbal duel between the two sides has led to adjournment, for an indefinite period, of the National Assembly session that was summoned for presenting the minibudget, thereby threatening a delay in the passage of the amended Finance Bill. Before Finance Minister Asad Umar unveiled the supplementary budget in the house on Wednesday, Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif called for Prime Minister Imran Khan and Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar to accept responsibility for the Sahiwal incident and tender their resignations. That drew sharp criticism from the treasury members, eliciting a noisy response from the opposition. And the ensuing ruckus continued right through the budget speech of the finance minister.
How could the opposition’s ‘unruly’ behaviour in the assembly have gone unnoticed! The PM’s Special Assistant, Naeemul Haque, was quick to take to Twitter to warn whether the Opposition Leader wanted to spend more time in jail sulking. “Does he want his production orders to be revoked? Last chance.” The opposition took up the gauntlet, warning back that if the Opposition Leader was not allowed to come to the National Assembly, “neither will the Leader of the House”. The tug of war thus continues. While it is the responsibility of both sides to put aside their egos for the sake of a fully functional parliament, the government must realise that it has a much bigger stake in the business of legislation.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 26th, 2019.
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