While the legal course does not seemingly appear to conclude in the foreseeable future with Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan preparing to file an appeal most probably within this week on behalf of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani against the decision of the seven-member bench of the Supreme Court, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is not ready to budge from its position and accept him as the chief executive of the country after his conviction despite the fact that his fate still remains to be finally sealed – a decision on his appeal, the National Assembly speaker’s judgment whether a question to disqualify him has arisen or not and then the Election Commission’s verdict are yet to come.
Though the up-in-arms PML-N had been creating ruckus with all its might on the floor of the National Assembly throughout its last session, it was being speculated that the major opposition party would boycott the joint session of parliament that was convened for the address of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But not only the PML-N attended the joint session in respect of the visiting dignitary, it also used the opportunity to unambiguously tell Gilani, and that too in the presence of his Turkish counterpart and his delegation, that it was a temporary relief that he had availed – the forthcoming budget session will be perhaps more thundery than what we ever witnessed in lower house of parliament since 2008.
Without mincing his words, Leader of Opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, when the speaker invited him for vote of thanks, explicitly referred to the “deep political divisions” in Pakistan which, he said, was already in the eye of the storm, internationally. Though it was not the occasion to wash our dirty linen in the presence of the prime minister of a friendly country, the Opposition Leader, who spoke extempore and rather well, removed the doubts, if there were any, that his party would compromise to facilitate a smooth functioning of the National Assembly.
The strategy of the government is to buy maximum time and Aitzaz Ahsan, who has also been appointed a counsel to address the court in the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto reference filed by President Asif Ali Zardari in place of Babar Awan, would make every effort to drag the prime minister’s case by the end of June. And if he succeeds, the government will pass the budget, which itself would bear an unmistakable stamp of confidence of the house in its leader even if the PML-N continues its protest inside parliament with the speaker and all treasury members putting on head-phones to complete the parliamentary procedure of passing the budget.
Interestingly, the PML-N, which otherwise has refused to acknowledge Yousaf Raza Gilani as chief executive of the country after his conviction, did accept his invitation to attend the dinner he had hosted in honour of the Turkish prime minister at a neutral venue – the Serena Hotel, which was probably selected with a view to facilitate the participation of the largest opposition party. Senator Ishaq Dar represented the PML-N. Accepting the prime minister’s invitation implies that the PML-N does understand that the legal and constitutional process had yet to conclude to finally disqualify and consequently unseat him.
The PML-N’s protest and campaign against him are undoubtedly part of its political strategy as we are already in the election year and no opposition party can afford to take a backseat when the situation is too volatile to leave the field open for political opponents particularly the government. Though the battle-lines are drawn and the PML-N has launched its forces against the prime minister, he can’t be politically checkmated as his fate has to be decided legally and constitutionally.