The second successive democratic transition was expected to be a dignified affair, instead the very first session of the new National Assembly turned out to be a shouting match between the PTI and its main opposition, the PML-N. Since they came, led by the party President Shahbaz Sharif, wearing black bands that should have been enough for the Nawaz Leaguers to register their protest against alleged electoral rigging, but they chose to create pandemonium, persistently raise noisy slogans while Imran Khan delivered his maiden speech as Prime Minister. And he allowed himself to be provoked. The occasion demanded that he makes a policy statement on his party's future plans in line with its manifesto. In fact as his deputy, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, later explained Khan had intended to do just that. But he let anger get the better of him, setting aside his prepared speech. After reiterating some of his campaign promises of building a "New Pakistan", he went on to deliver a searing harangue using unkind remarks to taunt the PML-N leadership for its past links with the establishment, and vowing to bring to account all those who had robbed the country. Also, he dared Shahbaz Sharif and the JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to stage a month-long sit-in, like he did for four long months, to demand investigations into electoral rigging, adding that his party would provide them with a container and food to sustain the protest.
Much as the Nawaz League's behaviour had upset him, Khan's party should have shown magnanimity in victory. Unfortunately, it did not act any better. As soon as Shahbaz Sharif rose to speak, PTI legislators and supporters sitting in the visitors' gallery started making shrill noises, drowning out much of what he had to say. Khan kept smiling all through the disorder letting things to be rather than advising restraint. The attitude surely does not behove the image of a newly elected prime minister or his party. For his part, predictably, Sharif focused mainly on the rigging issue, questioning the failure of 'notorious' Result Transmission System (RTS), rejection of some 1.6 million voters, and surfacing of supposedly valid ballot papers on streets and in gutters. And of course, his speech would not be complete without recounting the achievements of his brother, former prime minister and PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif, presently in jail along with his daughter and son-in-law on corruption charges. Most of what he said was inaudible, though, because of the bedlam.
In his very first address to the House, leader of the second largest opposition party in the National Assembly, PPP's young Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari distinguished himself by giving a graceful, issues-oriented speech. Although he, too, repeated his party's rigging allegations, he began by voicing a common feeling as he chided both the PML-N and the PTI for creating the ruckus. More importantly, he did not forget to pay tribute to different parties' leaders and workers, and police personnel who lost their lives in Peshawar, Mastung and Quetta during the election campaign, calling for investigations into all those atrocities, as well as full implementation of the anti-terrorism National Action Plan. Whilst congratulating Khan on his victory, he promised to act as a responsible opposition, lending support to the government for the right causes and offering resistance when so required. That should be the way forward for all.
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