“There is a hue and cry when I don’t accept resignations, and a hue a cry when I do.” This is indeed an apt remark by National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf in response to the criticism his action of accepting en masse resignations of MNAs of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has generated.

His explanation about the inordinate delay in acceptance of these resignations does not appear plausible at all for he has acted only after the emergence of a potent threat of removal of incumbent prime minister through a vote of no-confidence following the dissolution of Punjab Assembly and the boycott of local government elections in urban Sindh by Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), one of the coalition partners.

It was a widely held perception, if not belief, that the Speaker, who belongs to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), will accept resignations in the end, given time. It is, however, needless to say that there’s the rub. Time is always in desperately short supply in politics of Pakistan.

Sticking it out for another few months is a government strategy that had shaped up from the day one Speaker’s approach to his work of controlling the flows of house business and acting as referee during debates. He has been accused by opposition of doing ‘grave injustice’ to Speaker’s office. In my view, too, the Speaker is trying to defend the indefensible.

Nasir Minhas (Islamabad)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023