- But how long will it last?
After keeping the National Assembly dysfunctional for several days of the budget session, an exercise in course correction seems to have been conducted. A directive from the top had presumably been sent to the PTI legislators not to disrupt the Leader of the Opposition during his speech. The PTI leadership has belatedly realized that by encouraging disruption during the session, it is delaying the passage of the Finance Bill, which goes against the government’s own interest.
On Wednesday Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif managed to deliver a fairly lengthy address highlighting the PML-N government’s avowed achievements in education, health, infrastructure and putting an end to load-shedding. He called upon the Speaker to issue the production orders of PPP co-Chairman Asif Zardari and three other opposition MNAs in government custody, so that they may represent their constituencies during the debate on the budget. He also strongly critcised the performance of the PTI, highlighting the promises it had made when in opposition comparing it to its performance while in office that had led to hyperinflation and a sharp rise in unemployment, thus making the life of the common mam miserable.
Mian Shehbaz extended an olive branch to Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying that it was still possible to end the ongoing no-holds-barred fight. He promised that if the PTI leader moved one foot towards the opposition, the later would move two. The call did not ring genuine and was dismissed by many as a pep talk.
With Imran Khan continuing to threaten the opposition, calling its leaders thieves and dacoits, and the PTI rank and file trained in little else than tilting at windmills, there is little possibility of anything beyond a brief truce characterized by a temporary display of civility. What is more, the PML-N which faces the brunt, is fully determined to pay back liberally. One had hoped Mian Shehbaz would avoid recourse to provocative vocabulary but he too freely referred to Mr Khan as a ‘selected’ prime minister who must stop “lying” and accusations. With a vindictive government on one side and an opposition determined to pay back in the same coin on the other, any truce is likely to remain short lived. Still it costs little to speak politely.
