Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. PHOTO: AFP
The euphoria and focus was not uncalled for; the electorate is eager to see how these newly-elected lawmakers will perform. After all, they came into power after promising a sea change – reform in almost every sphere of governance.
Since the beginning, the mood of the PTI has been triumphant, clearly reflected in Pervez Khattak’s first speech in front of the house as chief minister. Khattak declared his party’s government will be unlike the predecessors as they were ready to jump into action from day one. “We have planned in detail and will start as soon as our ministers take oath,” Khattak said in his address.
The first hitch
However, soon after the assembly opened its floor for debate on June 20, the inexperienced lawmakers had their first fiasco, which in all likelihood set the mood for all future sessions – treasury benches on the defensive, kept on their toes, blocking constant attacks by the opposition.
The unsavory remark, possibly taken out of context, came from Shaukat Yousafzai, a journalist-turned-politico who holds the health portfolio in the K-P cabinet.
It is said he was responding to a Pakistan Peoples Party lawmaker’s diatribe over the sorry state of affairs in hospitals. However, Yousafzai saying “it’s not like all hell has broken loose,” came across more like a comment on the Mardan bomb blast which killed an MPA and 29 others. The incident was under discussion by legislators Nighat Orakzai and Mufti Syed Janan.
Without wasting a move, opposing lawmakers made a frontal attack as soon as the words left his mouth, inevitably forcing Yousafzai to retract his statement.
Perhaps the opposition never forgave Yousafzai for his remark and a commotion ensued every time he tried to speak during the budget debates.
Yousafzai was being tipped for the provincial information minister slot. But it seems former information minister Mian Iftikhar’s shoes are too big to fill as the PTI-led government has no information minister so far. The absence of a vocal information minister was badly felt in the house which has no one to stand up for on behalf of the government.
(No) causation or correlation
PTI lawmakers have been unconvincing about terrorism and have continued in vain to link drone attacks to acts of terrorism.
Linking the two is like comparing apples and oranges. Another argument to be made is; one wrong does not justify another.
The Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), who have experienced lawmakers in the cabinet, do not take any heat on such occasions. It primarily falls to the PTI to defend the coalition’s position.
This might explain why Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has been present in most of the sessions and in some sense has taken on the role of an information minister since he would speak on points and objections raised by members of the assembly.
Learning the house rules
New lawmakers have not been adhering to house rules.
On Monday, Soran Singh, a minority member of the PTI tried to silence PPP lawmaker Nighat Orakzai. Orakzai was protesting Public Health Minister Shah Farman’s statement on terror attacks when Singh stood up and started shouting, telling her to sit down in a blatant violation of assembly rules. The rules ask no member directly address another, instead everyone should address the speaker.
The chair also seems to exercise little control over the house, and comes across as lenient – especially with members who are repetitious. Possibly another reason why the budget debate stretched over a few days – not a trend set by the previous assemblies.
Given the new lawmakers performance in the maiden session, one might be prompted to say lawmakers need to make changes within before they attempt to bring about change around them through the tricky business of legislation.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 5th, 2013.
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