- Government and opposition must find middle ground
The new National Assembly began its five year tenure on an inauspicious note. Despite the proceedings of the joint parliamentary session beginning with a prayer for Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, the PML-N and its allies staged a walk out before the President’s address. The reason given was the government’s failure to set up a commission to investigate rigging charges during the recent general election despite promises to do so. The PPP did not join the protest thus bringing to the surface the differences between the PPP and PML-N. With Shahbaz Sharif as the leader of the opposition and Fazlur Rehman his close ally, both are keen to play the role chosen by Imran Khan when he was in the opposition. This means a total confrontation with the government.
The PPP on the other hand has decided to confront the government only when it suits it. The Sindh PPP leadership disapproved of some of the observations made by Imran Khan during his recent visit to Karachi. His remarks about a master plan for Karachi to be enforced in case the city was not cleaned up within a couple of months were considered a violation of the letter and spirit of the 18th amendment. Sindh government also protested over the center appointing key bureaucrats in Sindh without consultation with the provincial government. The party was unhappy about granting nationality to all Pakistan-born refugees of Afghan and Bangladeshi origins who live in Karachi. Its parliamentarians nevertheless declined to walk out from the joint session.
The government and the opposition need to strengthen Parliament. Unless they do so they would be sawing off the branch they are sitting on. Days before winning the presidential election, Dr Arif Alvi had promised that if elected he would be the President of neither a single party nor a province but of all Pakistanis. The President according to the constitution is the Head of State and represents the unity of the Republic. Dr Alvi being among a handful of sober and polished leaders of the PTI one hopes that he would work hard to improve the working relations between the government and the opposition.