This is apropos a Business Recorder editorial “What’s the govt up to?” carried by the newspaper yesterday.

The newspaper has concluded its argument by saying, among other things, that “This is not how parliamentary democracies function. After the frequent undemocratic spells the country is now a working democracy. After two democracy-enriched terms of today’s political opposition the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is now in power, and despite its multiple governance failures it is likely to complete its five-year constitutional tenure. Unfortunately, however, the government is treating the opposition with total contempt or disdain.” Treating opposition parties with contempt or disdain is government’s democratic right. Both Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) deserve this treatment because of a variety of reasons. They cannot be trusted for anything, although the latter party has been ruling Sindh, the second largest province of the country, for a very long time. The tenures of both the parties were responsible for bringing the country to the verge of bankruptcy. In recent days and weeks, they have stepped up criticism of the government with a view to forcing prime minister Imran Khan to drop corruption cases against their leaders. In no way are they going to succeed.

Tabassum Jafri (Karachi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021