- Why so touchy?
For a parliamentary system of government to function properly assemblies have to run smoothly. It is the chair’s duty in both Houses to ensure this. At the same time– as typically the speaker is the government’s appointee– he or she has to be, or at least look to be, impartial, providing the opposition with a level playing field. Since the PTI came to power the National Assembly has remained in a perpetual state of chaos. It is the opposition’s job to criticise the government’s policies and the latter’s job to absorb it, but that does not seem to happening here. Both sides of the aisle do their best to interrupt each other during each session that usually escalates into sloganeering and eventually a walkout by the opposition. It is unfortunate that Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri has resorted to banning the opposition’s use of the word ‘selected’ when referring to Prime Minister Imran Khan in the National Assembly. The term ‘selected prime minister’ was coined by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in the very first National Assembly session of the PTI government when he referred to Mr Khan as ‘Prime Minister-select’, the suggestion being that Mr Khan’s victory was manufactured. The term has since gathered a lot of traction and clearly irked the Prime Minister to necessitate the ban of its use. The ruling party perhaps overlooked the fact that such an overreaction would hint at a guilty conscience.
Up till his victory Mr Khan had cursed the Parliament, not accepting it as legitimate. Now on the treasury benches his party continuously calls opposition leaders thieves and dacoits. One cabinet minister, not known for showing restraint while expressing his disdain for the opposition and often letting his fascist tendencies get the better of him, stated in the National Assembly that he wanted the corrupt to be dragged on the streets and hanged. No warning or censure was issued by the Speaker in this regard. Unjustified censorship in the National Assembly is a dangerous undemocratic practice. It would be better that the government develop a thicker skin and try to reach some sort of consensus with the opposition through more rational means.
