EDITORIAL: Except for PPP (Pakistan People’s Party), parliamentarians from ruling parties haven’t really been known to take the house seriously enough to grace it with their presence regularly. But this time they simply embarrass themselves because a government with more than 100 cabinet members and parliamentary secretaries is unable to maintain quorum in the National Assembly; to the point that the extremely important debate on the situation arising in the aftermath of the floods cannot take place.
How this makes the country look when other governments as well as the good offices of the UNSG (United Nations Secretary General) are pleading Pakistan’s case for more aid and debt relief all over the world is not very difficult to understand.
Last Wednesday’s proceedings witnessed a new low when the deputy speaker adjourned the session for longer than usual during evening prayers, to give time for relevant ministers to make their way to parliament, only to find that the two ministers that were present had also left. Even representatives from Sindh, the worst affected province, did not care to show up.
PPP stalwart and Minister for Water Resources Khursheed Shah, visibly irked, said that he had even raised this issue with the prime minister, but to no avail. Earlier, the National Assembly speaker had apparently directed Parliamentary Affairs Minister Murtaza Javed Abbasi to ensure proper quorum, but that didn’t have the desired effect either.
Let’s not forget that this multi-party government made quite a fuss about the lack of importance accorded to parliament by the previous PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) administration; and argued that PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement) parties had the experience and wisdom to restore its dignity. One can only wonder what made them make such a claim because there’s little to envy in their own score on this account, except for one party.
But it says a lot that they still don’t bother to show up as a matter of routine. This is not an area where the opposition can attack them with much credibility either because it would only amount to the pot calling the kettle black for pure point-scoring; nothing more.
Pakistan’s political elite love to talk about the importance of democracy and democratic institutions, and of course all the sacrifices they have allegedly made to uphold their sanctity, yet most of them are still not willing to give parliament the respect and centrality it deserves, especially when all they need to do is show up and carry out debates and pass legislation for the benefit of the state and the people. This is just one more example that goes to show, all over again, that the only thing they really care for is the power that winning an election brings with it. That’s why they’re always long on promises, when they need the people to vote them into the house, and short on delivery when it’s time to honour those promises.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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