Strength in numbers: ‘Time for the PTI to return to the Punjab Assembly and strengthen it’

Opposition says the govt has had a free hand in the PTI’s absence.

LAHORE: The agreement between the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) on the formation of the judicial commission has rekindled hope among opposition parties that the PTI would return to the Punjab Assembly.

After resigning in August last year, PTI’s absence had further increased the ruling party’s muscle which has 300 lawmakers in the House.

PTI’s vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Sunday had said that the PTI would consider returning to the assemblies after the judicial commission was announced.

Welcoming the agreement between the PTI and the PML-N over the formation of the judicial commission, Jamaat-i-Islami Punjab chief Syed Waseem Akhtar said the main dispute between the two parties has been resolved.

“It is time for them [the PTI] to return to the assembly and strengthen the opposition,” he said. “The government has been ignoring the opposition in the House.”

He said the PTI had 30 seats in the provincial assembly and it was time the party became a proactive force as a leading opposition party.

“When PTI lawmakers resigned, I contacted the speaker, asking him to delay the matter,” he said. “We shall try to ensure their return to the assembly with this recent development.”

In the absence of PTI from the assemblies, the PPP was left to field its candidates from the Punjab in the Senate elections. The PPP had criticised the PTI for “abandoning the opposition.”

“The government keeps calling us a nanhi munhi (tiny) opposition. Hopefully when the PTI legislators return to the assembly, the opposition will be strengthened and will play a better role,” said PPP lawmaker Sardar Shahabud Din.

He said if the PTI decided to return, it would take the debate on electoral reforms forward.

“Political parties have always been concerned about electoral reforms,” he said. “If they [PTI] return, these reforms would be a given a boost,” he said.

Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) MPA Aamir Sultan Cheema said PTI’s policy of boycotting the assemblies had been questioned by opposition parties.

“Instead of giving the government a tough time, the opposition gave them a free hand by being non-existent,” he said.

Cheema said the PTI had given up a chance of securing a Senate seat from the Punjab.

“It’s time they returned to the Assembly and talked about governance, health and education,” he said. PTI’s Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed, who is the leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, said the party had yet to reach consensus on returning to the assemblies.

He said though an agreement had been reached between the PTI and the federal government, an official notification on the constitution of the commission was still awaited.

Rasheed said though the party had announced it would decide on returning to the assemblies after formation of the commission, party ranks were still debating the matter.

He said there were those who had reservations regarding returning to assemblies at this stage.

However, he said, a majority was of the view that they should return and play an active role in legislation.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2015.