The rumpus witnessed in the Senate the other day left a bad taste in the mouth and the reputation of our parliamentarians soiled. The greater onus for running the affairs of the House falls on the treasury, and particularly government ministers.
Unfortunately, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Dr Sher Afgan, leaves much to be desired in this regard. Instead of exerting himself to ensure that the proceedings of the House run smoothly, which implies allowing the opposition the space for debate and expression of opinion in a civilised manner, Dr Afgan seems to have taken it upon himself to conduct things in combative mode.
In this endeavour, he seems less a man of the treasury and more a throwback to his past in the opposition. Guiding legislation through the House, which must be priority number one for the honourable minister, seems to figure very low down on his list of priorities.
Dr Afgan inflicted his extraordinary talent for complicating matters that could be handled very differently and in the best parliamentary traditions during the discussion in the Senate on the sentencing of ex-Speaker of the National Assembly Yousuf Raza Gilani to jail and a fine for alleged illegal recruitments to the National Assembly secretariat during his tenure. The opposition's protest on the matter could have been foreseen and a plan chalked out how to handle the matter. Instead, Sher Afgan not only took on the opposition, he descended to language and a tone guaranteed to provoke the other side. And provoked they were.
The bitter and virtually abusive verbal exchanges between the minister and opposition stalwarts such as Asfandyar Wali were bad enough. Things reached such a pass that Safdar Abbasi and the minister almost came to blows.
All this was going on while the Acting Chairman of the Senate, Commander Khalil struggled in vain to restrain the minister, who seemed to have the bit between his teeth. Admonitions from the chair to exercise restraint and allow the House proceed in a civilised manner fell on Sher Afgan's deaf ears. The opposition cannot be absolved of behaving badly either, but some concession may be made for the fact that they had been subjected to extreme provocation by Sher Afgan.
Another embarrassment for the treasury benches is the frequent lack of quorum in both the houses. It is the duty of the government to undertake legislative business with regularity and within an acceptable time frame. We would suggest to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to set a new precedence (common in parliaments abroad but not in Pakistan) by his presence during the question hour.
He must take time out of his busy schedule as his presence would ensure that his cabinet members are also on the floor of the house and parliamentarians instead of roaming around the ministries to get private work done will also come to the house to meet him and his ministers. The PM house already is a different place as one does not see an army of "hangers-on" roaming around, a common sight with his predecessors.
The cut and thrust of debate and discussion in parliament can offer many nuggets of wit, repartee and considered opinion. In our case, the life of parliaments having been as fitful as it has, perhaps it is no accident that the level of debate in both chambers is deplorable. Add to that Sher Afgan's 'Ninja' style of dealing with the opposition, and you have all the tinder for an explosion. The incident the other day cannot therefore with confidence be said to be the last of its kind.
It is for the government to mull over the potential for trouble in its Minister for Parliamentary Affairs' style of operating. Either the minister in question should be admonished and restrained, or someone more worthy of conducting parliamentary affairs chosen to manage things in both Houses in a manner commensurate with the best parliamentary traditions of tolerance of opposing points of view without descent to verbiage of the lowest common denominator. If not, all the old criticisms of the failings of our politicians to manage things in a reasonable manner are likely to find a new lease of life, to the detriment of parliamentary democracy. Lest we forget, the alternative is nothing but a praetorian dispensation for an agonisingly extended time.
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