Parliament's desecration under Sadiq's watch

Experts decry unprecedented attack, tarnishing democracy and freedoms

ISLAMABAD:

A new low was witnessed in the country's parliamentary history on the night of September 10 when masked men, accompanied by law enforcers, stormed into the Parliament premises, cutting off the electricity and rounding up PTI lawmakers who had sought refuge inside.

What many believed was unthinkable - an invasion of the hallowed halls - came to pass in dramatic fashion, shattering the sanctity of the institution. Legislators, confident that no force would dare to enter Parliament, were proven drastically wrong.

Those familiar with parliamentary proceedings were left stunned as the raid unfolded. Typically, key officeholders across the world resign over such grievous breaches.

However, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, who labelled himself an "unlucky speaker" due to repeated attacks on Parliament under his watch, did not take the high road and resign, even though he failed to explain how law enforcement officers and masked men violated the sacred space of Parliament with apparent impunity for hours.

Sadiq ordered an inquiry into the attack and has suspended some Sergeant-at-Arms and Capital Development Authority (CDA) officials for failing to prevent the intrusion and the arrests from lobbies and rooms.

 

However, sceptics argue that suspending a few low-ranking officials was merely a token gesture. Even more surprisingly, before the inquiry report was completed, the suspension letter accused the CDA officials of switching off the lights "on their own," casting further shadows over the handling of the incident.

Despite his claims of ignorance, Sadiq's inaction has been too little, too late for many. The speaker even pretended as if he only became aware of the assault after listening to lawmakers' speeches after the PTI-backed lawmakers were dragged into police vehicles.

The PTI lawmakers had been targeted after delivering fiery speeches during a rally outside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the general elections and violating a recently enacted law related to peaceful assembly.

During the raids, 11 PTI MPs, including PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Khan, chief whip Aamir Dogar, Sher Afzal Marwat, Sheikh Waqas Akram, Zain Qureshi, Zubair Khan Wazir, Ahmed Chattha, Awais Haider Jakhar, Syed Ahad Ali Shah, Nasim Ali Shah, and Yousuf Khan Khattak were arrested from the assembly building and charged with the protest and anti-terrorism laws.

Though many PTI lawmakers were content with the speaker's efforts, others say that the chaos was real and big but the action that has followed so far seems to be typical and mostly focused on suspending some low-ranking officials.

Moreover, the inquiry report which had to be furnished within seven days hasn't yet been completed as the speaker told some journalists on September 20 that a comprehensive "report will soon be completed".

He, however, listed down his achievements following the attack on Parliament by saying that he issued production orders to the PTI lawmakers and declared the Parliament Lodges as sub-jails so that the legislators could "respectfully" stay in their rooms instead of lockups - after being humiliated in front of the whole world.

Sadiq mentioned that the arrested MNAs had come to his chamber to say "thank you" – a courtesy that can easily be termed the tiniest part of the overall dreadful attack on the supremacy of the Parliament.

Only at one point during one of the NA sessions, the speaker was forced to say that he was thinking if he should be in the chair anymore as every other member was conveying sentiments as if he had a role in the September 10 night's mayhem.

In response, PTI chief whip Aamir Dogar had not minced any words when he regretted that the speaker appeared "helpless" when the MPs were being humiliated and the sanctity of the parliament eroded. "If they [police and plain-clothed masked men] have entered the house then the day is not far when they will come to arrest you from this chair," he had told the speaker in his face.

The other night, Dogar had lamented, the PTI MNAs were told that closed doors and chained gates couldn't be opened but when the masked men stormed the building around 3am, everything was opened for them and they even disconnected the power supply to make a final round of arrests.

Responding to the speaker's resignation, Dogar ended his speech with a couplet, which conveys that it's better to starve to death than compromise on one's principles.

Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, the president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), and Raza Ahmad Rumi, a policy analyst and journalist, called the incident "unprecedented" and a dark chapter in the political and parliamentary history, eroding democratic freedoms in the country.

"The unprecedented act of arresting elected representatives from within the Parliament precinct or, according to some reports, from within the Parliament building would further tarnish the image of Pakistan and its democratic credentials, already quite weak, will further erode," the PILDAT president said.

"This is one of those dark chapters of our history whose authors would, most likely, remain shrouded in mystery despite the announcement of an enquiry by the speaker," Mehboob said, adding "I don't know if the speaker was informed but I hope that he was not."

Rumi noted that the raids on the parliament to arrest MPs were among the dangerous precedents pointing towards the shady role of the intelligence agencies. "

During the past decade, most dangerous precedents have been set with respect to executive excesses, especially the murky role of law enforcement intelligence agencies," Rumi said. "The latest incident is yet another reminder that democratic freedoms in Pakistan have eroded to an alarming degree," he concluded.