Where should the parliament meet?

The annual budget session is due amid the coronavirus outbreak, the question, however, is: Where should the parliament meet? The government is for virtual meetings of the two houses but the opposition is opposed to it, expressing apprehension that upcoming federal budget being a grim challenge its virtual presentation and passage is not acceptable. National Assembly chamber for 342 members is now too narrow to meet for budget session in view of the social distancing challenge. But the opposition is for adding seats to the visitors' galleries on the same floor-level. It insists that there would be no congestion particularly when average per-sitting attendance is about 200. According to the opposition, the virtual session would be unlawful without amending the Constitution and changing Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business. It plausibly asks how the legislators can amend Constitution and change rules if the parliament cannot meet. The six-feet distancing is not only a forbidding challenge faced by Pakistan; other Westminster parliamentary democracies too are beset with the challenge of space. In Britain, the members of the House of Commons are being encouraged to attend the session via video links. Should MPs observe the six-foot social distancing only 50 MPs will be able to sit in a 650-seat chamber. But then Britain has no written constitution; its practices and conventions over the time acquire constitutional sanctity. Be that as it may, that kind of meeting may not be possible in Pakistan mainly for two broad reasons. First, the six feet distancing is more in words than in practice. Only this past Tuesday, President Arif Alvi was in Muzaffarabad to call upon people to exhibit discipline by maintaining lockdown and observing social distancing. At the press conference he was seen closely flanked on both sides by the president and prime minister of Azad Jammu & Kashmir and the NDMA chief. None of them had his face covered with protective facemasks. Same is the case with cabinet meetings when about 25-odd persons sit around a table in a congested room. Also, didn't you notice that when Faisal Edhi and Sheikh Rashid presented donation-for-relief cheques to Prime Minister none of them was donning protective gloves.

Agreed, the upcoming federal budget is being presented in extraordinary circumstances and may propose extraordinary measures, but it has got to be presented before parliament for a fuller debate. If social-distancing is the only issue then there is the third option - the budget session should be held at the Convention Centre, a spacious hall situated at the other end of the Constitution Avenue. It has all the required facilities the Parliament House offers. Constitutionally, nothing bars the parliament from meeting at places other than its present seat. Many years back when fire rendered the parliament building inoperable, the then National Assembly Speaker, Gohar Ayub Khan, held its sittings at the State Bank of Pakistan building in federal capital. The issue that should draw notice of both the treasury and the opposition benches is the budget itself, not the venue. These are extraordinary times. The situation underscores the need for extraordinary politics, both in parliament and out of it. After all, parliament is nothing but collective will of the nation, and the nation is confronted with forbidding challenges that demand pro-people and not pro-leader attitude on the part of its elected representatives.