- A partisan Speaker and an obstructionist treasury
The way the Speaker conducted the National Assembly proceedings on Thursday was bound to lead to confrontation with the opposition. The item on the agenda for discussion was the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill to enhance the seats of former FATA in the National Assembly and KP Assembly. There was an unusual bonhomie on the part of the opposition and the Treasury at the start of the proceedings when both joined hands to pass a motion presented by MNA Mohsin Dawar to suspend rules for consideration of the bill. Things however went out of control when the Speaker allowed federal minister Murad Saeed to speak, ignoring PML-N parliamentary leader Khawaja Asif who had sought the permission first. This was considered yet another display of partiality by the Speaker Earlier he had interrupted PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari thrice and expunged his remarks, which were by no means un-parliamentary.
It was highly unusual on the part of Federal Minister Murad Saeed to threaten to disrupt Khawaja Asif’s speech, who then declined to address the House, and the opposition staged a boycott of the sitting. The opposition traditionally resorts to tactics of the sort, while it is considered the Treasury’s task to bring the opposition back because it is primarily the ruling party’s duty to ensure the quorum and seek the opposition’s help in legislation. The opposition’s support becomes all the more crucial when the government needs to enact a constitutional amendment but does not possess the required two-thirds majority.
The Speaker’s display of partiality led PML-N Senior Vice President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to maintain that the presiding officer should have resigned if he was under pressure from the government to abandon impartiality. As he didn’t, the opposition could no more trust him. Khawaja Asif said the Speaker ignores everyone when people who have special bonds with the PM take the floor. He also made it known that if the Speaker continued to dismiss the opposition, the opposition too would not allow the House to function.
Khawaja Asif was heard without any significant obstruction on Friday. But only time would show if the change in the PTI’s behaviour was more than a tactical move.
