Legitimate concerns
Khursheed Shah is more optimistic than most Pakistanis if he expects his outbursts to make the prime minister and his senior ministers take Parliament more seriously. It is abundantly clear – half way through PML-N’s third term – that it does not hold the Assembly as sacred as it does the notion of democracy. And, as those with slightly long memories will remember, the only time the ruling party showed up promptly in the House was during the record session at the time of the dharna pressure – when opposition parties gathered around PML-N and took the sting out of the PTI-PAT protest.
Sadly, though, as soon as the pressure went so did the ruling party’s interest in the parliamentary process. All important decisions remain the privilege of Nawaz’s close kitchen cabinet. However that arrangement, too, is hardly the picture of efficiency. Dar sb is the only gateway to the prime minister, the Khwajas are a team in themselves, and nobody even talks to Ch Nisar anymore. And, of course, there is still no full-time foreign minister while, as far as appearances go, and effective national security advisor had to be forced onto the government. It is not surprising, in this setting, that Islamabad has slowly weakened its own grip on the most crucial affairs of state.
Nawaz attended Parliament only 19 times in the last year and his senior ministers weren’t much better. That is why opposition anger has mounted. The government has regularly sidestepped thorough parliamentary scrutiny of some of its most debatable actions. And it has confidently gone ahead with controversial steps like dubious privatisation initiatives, suspicious gas deals and an ineffective foreign policy. Its position, for example, on the so-called Saudi grand alliance and deepening Saudi-Iran cleavage is still not properly explained, despite loud calls from the opposition. Now, if senior government ministers refuse to grace the House with their presence more regularly, they should at least explain to the public just why taking Parliament more seriously in their democratic model is so unacceptable for them. They should also explain their working model more transparently.