Are PTI and PML-N’s spearheads blunt?

Buzdar’s absence and Hamza’s silence dominate this week’s PA proceedings

LAHORE: The absence and silence of the two most prominent leaders from the PTI and PML-N in Punjab, Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar and Opposition Leader Hamza Shehbaz, raised plenty of eyebrows in the Punjab Assembly. Their lack of involvement was particularly conspicuous during a week which saw the passing of ‘historic legislation’.

MPAs were left scratching their heads over a missing Buzdar who has not entered the floor of the assembly for some time. This is despite him being well aware that the provincial government had marked April 30 as the day to pass the Punjab Local Government Bill 2019 and Punjab Village Panchayats and Neighborhood Councils Bill 2019.

In comparison, Hamza played the role of a silent spectator when his party’s lawmakers raised a voice against these bills, dubbing them poor legislation. In the Punjab Assembly session, treasury lawmakers were united and successfully managed to march on with government business. The treasury managed to provide legal cover to the legislation by getting it passed from the assembly forum.

On the other hand, the opposition seemed confused and divided over different issues and failed to play its role of being a thorn in the side of the government.  Analysts say the opposition's shortcomings are what allowed proposed amendments to the bills to lapse in legal manner.  Other observers pointed out that the opposition usually grills treasury over steps which are taken against public interest. However, this week, the PML-N seemed was hoping to pin its own failures on the shoulders of the government.

In an another interesting chain of developments, the government managed to draw an apology from

PML-N lawmaker Malik Muhammad Ahmed for using harsh language towards PA Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari. However, this lesson in humility ended up being an exercise in futility as speaker Chaudhry Pervez Elahi upheld the suspension of three PML-N lawmakers by Mazari.

Admitting to a mistake was a noble gesture on Ahmed’s part, but he should have considered his demands of forming a committee on the matter. Insiders believed this would be akin to questioning the credibility of the deputy speaker.

While promises were made to form a committee to probe the suspensions, the government quickly backtracked with the speaker in the chair. He endorsed the suspension, no committee was formed and Ahmed was left red in the face.

Another embarrassing moment for the opposition was when former speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan's corrected his own PML-N party leader Samiullah Khan at a time when the latter was defending the suspension of his wife Azma Bukhari.

Sami had said there was a time when derogatory language was used against Iqbal when he was speaker. However, Iqbal made it clear that no such remarks were used against him. Observers point out that this is less about getting the facts straight and more about making a correction to a statement, especially at a time when the treasury and opposition were at a loggerheads.

The opposition also seemed divided over raising a voice against the suspension of three of its members. The PML-N was vociferous in its protests when six of its MPAs were suspended by the speaker in 2018. However, the party seemed to adopt a more subdued approach and this, analysts believe, has created doubts among PML-N ranks about the level of support.

However, it seemed that some leaders, who were once part of Pervez Elahi’s team, did not want confrontation with the government over the suspension of just three members.

In the meanwhile, rules were being openly flouted on a floor which is usually used to pass laws. PA Deputy Speaker Mazari flouted the rules when a PML-N lawmaker pointed to the lack of quorum. However, the deputy speaker continued with proceedings.

This was despite the Rules of Procedure of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab stating that the chair will order the bells to be rung for five minutes after a lack of quorum is pointed out. If the required quorum is not complete, the chair will adjourn the house for at least 15 minutes. The next time a lack of quorum was indicated in the same session, Mazari failed to follow the prescribed procedure, once again, and jumped the gun by adjourning the entire session.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2019.