A hostage parliament benefits none
In a civilised country, parliament is the agreed forum to formulate national policies through deliberation and consensus. Any attempt to weaken the parliament is liable to result in chaos that would derail democracy and harm the country. Many believe it was unfortunate on the part of the PML(N) to oppose the resolution of the memo issue through parliament. By creating doubts about the ability of the law-cum-policymaking body, the party has encouraged those who do not accept the supremacy of parliament. They now want to enforce policies of their liking by an appeal to the mobs.
On Sunday, a conglomeration of groups of the sort joined hands to hold a public meeting at Minar-e-Pakistan under the banner of “Difa-e-Pakistan Conference.” Most of the speakers belonged to religious parties including the Jamaat-ud-Daawa (JuD) which had acted as the moving spirit behind the meeting. Of the three outsiders who spoke, one has never contested an election while the other two were defeated in the 2008 election. The demands made at the gathering included a permanent ban on Nato supplies to Afghanistan and refusal to accord MFN status to India. The speakers threatened to bring the mobs on the street and lead a march on Islamabad if their demands were not accepted. This amounts to making an elected parliament hostage to the mobs. At another public gathering in Peshawar, the Jamaat-e-Islami chief threatened to forcibly stop Nato supplies to Afghanistan in case these were ever allowed by the government. At a third gathering in Rawalpindi, a cleric demanded in a video address the setting up of a national government under the supervision of the SC.
All parties flaunting democratic credentials need to ensure that democracy is not replaced by mobocracy. The language used by Shahbaz Sharif, promising to drag government leaders and hang them upside down, has encouraged the tendency. It is time all democratic parties realise the danger. The establishment too has to understand that any move to settle issues on the streets can only lead to lawlessness which would weaken every institution in the country, be it the parliament, army or the SC. Parliamentary supremacy has to be upheld to ensure a stable system.
