The heads of most parliamentary parties of the country advised Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday to intervene for scrapping two motions seeking unseating of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s lawmakers. They asked the prime minister to adopt a policy of political reconciliation to move forward.A day earlier, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq had deferred for one week voting on the two motions against 28 PTI MNAs for absenting from the lower house of parliament for more than 40 days. The motions were moved by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazlur Rehman).The speaker of the National Assembly has deferred voting for a week as the principal political parties are seeking an out-of-parliament solution.With the PTI still maintaining that the Judicial Commission report be made public to expose election irregularities, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had taken them on in the NA telling the party to accept the verdict of the Judicial Commission and move on. The government has already accepted that there are structural problems with the mechanism of conducting elections and new election reforms are already on the cards. The PTI’s agitation had harmed the system and would have in fact led to its premature termination if the opposition parties had not put their weight behind the Prime Minister. It will take time and maturity on the part of the government and opposition before the damage is repaired. The government and the opposition need, under the circumstances, to tread with care. Unnecessary confrontation between political parties or with institutions has to be avoided. It would be unwise under the circumstances to block the way of the PTI which has returned to the National Assembly and is keen to work within the system. It would be infantile politics to force the party to confront the system. Elections in 33 NA constituencies are no child’s play. The ECP is already finding it difficult to hold the Local Government polls according to the schedule on account of social disturbance caused by widespread rains and floods. Fresh elections are a costly exercise and cannot be held simply to cater to the whims of an ethnic and a religio-political outfit, all the more so when an extra-large section of the NA members is agreeable to allowing the PTI to rejoin the National Assembly.There needs to be an agreement to keep the system going and the PTI needs to play a critical role after having its key demands met and claims rejected. It is clear that the resolutions in parliament were nothing more than a pressure tactic designed to embarrass the PTI. The PM’s message to the PTI is clear: no more road shows, and accept the system with its flaws.The rest of the political cohort needs to demonstrate maturity and grace under pressure, and give the PTI an object lesson in the best of parliamentary behaviour. Unseating the 28 PTI members will not be the ideal way forward. Difficult as it may be, a line has to be drawn, because if not, then the country plunges once again into the political unknown.
pk.shafaqna.com
Unseating PTI members: Opposition need to tread with care
