Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has finally decided to quit the National Assembly. The resignations of its 25 MNAs were lying with the Speaker for the last two months almost and in spite of his repeated requests to the PTI leadership to follow parliamentary rules, none of the resigning legislators felt the need to tender their resignations singly. Now, after a final notification from the Speaker, they will go en masse to the National Assembly on October 29 to do the needful. The government did not want to accept the resignations and had been waiting for some wisdom to dawn on the PTI leadership. But months of patient waiting has done nothing except increase Imran’s obduracy in not settling for anything short of the prime minister’s resignation. PTI will resign from the Punjab and Sindh Assemblies as well, and in consistent vein will not contest any by-elections. However, the party has decided to retain its government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), because it is the only province, according to the PTI, where rigging has not been found. This politics of expediency rather than principle is more staggering than the ‘bogus’ parliament Imran wants to relieve himself from. For the next four years, the party will sit outside parliament and still play the role of an opposition. After Muharram 10, the PTI will conduct two rallies every week in different cities. How long this process will continue, we do not know.
The PTI’s departure from parliamentary politics to the politics of agitation is a unique example that might even fail to set any precedent except becoming an addition to the political baggage the country is straddled with already. Pakistan’s history of parliamentary government has been a history of expedient politicians who would dispose of the system if need be to bring themselves to power. Every dictator had come and ruled with the support of some politicians. After Musharraf’s coup and with the signing of the Charter of Democracy, followed by the PPP’s policy of reconciliation after the 2008 elections and PML-N’s restrained opposition, democracy was strengthened by restoring parliament to its rightful status as the central institution. Whatever the performance of the previous government, its efforts at bringing power back to parliament and making it a true representative of the people cannot be discounted.
The 18th Amendment strengthened the federation and felicitated participatory democracy. The so-called attempt by the third force to cause the political process to flounder was pre-empted by the general agreement among the political parties to stay united and for the first time in the history of Pakistan a smooth democratic transition from one government to another was made possible. The country has come a long way and Imran Khan is hell-bent to wash away all this good only to come to power, because he thinks only he can take this country out of its problems. He could be right, if we give him the benefit of the doubt, but his insistence to wrap up the system prematurely for a short cut to power reflects his impatience with the parliamentary system that requires him to wait for five years to seek a fresh mandate. This is hardly an effort towards a Naya (new) Pakistan. Other than adding more issues to the ever increasing list of problems, Imran’s agitation will serve no purpose. If he is concerned about Pakistan, he should go back to parliament and conduct politics through the mandate given to him by his supporters in the 2013 elections. By boycotting parliament and keeping himself out of the system, Imran is deceiving the very people who see him as their saviour. Already Pakistan Awami Tehreek and Pakistan Muslim League-Q have announced to participate in the by-elections. Who will raise the voice of PTI’s supporters in parliament? Will the PTI be able to influence parliamentary decisions having far-reaching effects on its constituents? What about the elections reform committee and PTI’s eagerness to influence it? Those in parliament will have a greater say and power to affect the system than the PTI. Imran should understand that parliament and not street agitation is the unmistakable path to a better Pakistan.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Pakistan : PTI’s resignations
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has finally decided to quit the National Assembly. The resignations of its 25 MNAs were lying with the Speaker for the last two months almost and in spite of his repeated requests to the PTI leadership to follow parliamentary rules, none of the resigning legislators felt the need to tender their resignations singly. Now, after a final notification from the Speaker, they will go en masse to the National Assembly on October 29 to do the needful. The government did not want to accept the resignations and had been waiting for some wisdom to dawn on the PTI leadership. But months of patient waiting has done nothing except increase Imran’s obduracy in not settling for anything short of the prime minister’s resignation. PTI will resign from the Punjab and Sindh Assemblies as well, and in consistent vein will not contest any by-elections. However, the party has decided to retain its government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), because it is the only province, according to the PTI, where rigging has not been found. This politics of expediency rather than principle is more staggering than the ‘bogus’ parliament Imran wants to relieve himself from. For the next four years, the party will sit outside parliament and still play the role of an opposition. After Muharram 10, the PTI will conduct two rallies every week in different cities. How long this process will continue, we do not know.
The PTI’s departure from parliamentary politics to the politics of agitation is a unique example that might even fail to set any precedent except becoming an addition to the political baggage the country is straddled with already. Pakistan’s history of parliamentary government has been a history of expedient politicians who would dispose of the system if need be to bring themselves to power. Every dictator had come and ruled with the support of some politicians. After Musharraf’s coup and with the signing of the Charter of Democracy, followed by the PPP’s policy of reconciliation after the 2008 elections and PML-N’s restrained opposition, democracy was strengthened by restoring parliament to its rightful status as the central institution. Whatever the performance of the previous government, its efforts at bringing power back to parliament and making it a true representative of the people cannot be discounted.
The 18th Amendment strengthened the federation and felicitated participatory democracy. The so-called attempt by the third force to cause the political process to flounder was pre-empted by the general agreement among the political parties to stay united and for the first time in the history of Pakistan a smooth democratic transition from one government to another was made possible. The country has come a long way and Imran Khan is hell-bent to wash away all this good only to come to power, because he thinks only he can take this country out of its problems. He could be right, if we give him the benefit of the doubt, but his insistence to wrap up the system prematurely for a short cut to power reflects his impatience with the parliamentary system that requires him to wait for five years to seek a fresh mandate. This is hardly an effort towards a Naya (new) Pakistan. Other than adding more issues to the ever increasing list of problems, Imran’s agitation will serve no purpose. If he is concerned about Pakistan, he should go back to parliament and conduct politics through the mandate given to him by his supporters in the 2013 elections. By boycotting parliament and keeping himself out of the system, Imran is deceiving the very people who see him as their saviour. Already Pakistan Awami Tehreek and Pakistan Muslim League-Q have announced to participate in the by-elections. Who will raise the voice of PTI’s supporters in parliament? Will the PTI be able to influence parliamentary decisions having far-reaching effects on its constituents? What about the elections reform committee and PTI’s eagerness to influence it? Those in parliament will have a greater say and power to affect the system than the PTI. Imran should understand that parliament and not street agitation is the unmistakable path to a better Pakistan.
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