The government is the one on the receiving end
It is unusual in functioning democracies to find people increasingly resorting to extra-parliamentary methods to record protests. Even when there are street protests these are organised by groups who are not represented in parliament. Within a year of the PML-N coming to power, an elected opposition party is already on the roads while another parliamentary party is meditating to do so. Public protests are becoming all too common which do not bode well for the system. One had hoped that this would send alarm bells ringing in the corridors of power. What one finds is a display of reckless complacency. The message being conveyed to critics is: we have a mandate to rule for five years, so shut up and wait.
What has encouraged the tendency to take disputes outside parliament is the government’s own non serious and almost disrespectful attitude towards the National Assembly and Senate. The prime minister has attended only eight sittings of the Lower House in 11 months. He has not gone to the Senate, where the PML-N is in minority, even once despite repeated demands by opposition senators. Taking the cue from Nawaz Sharif, PML-N ministers too give scant importance to the National Assembly proceedings and often stay away from the House. The issue of counting votes in four constituencies could have been resolved if the prime minister had taken interest in the dispute instead of encouraging Rana Sanaullah to issue provocative statements about the PTI chief. Imran Khan maintains that it is futile to try to resolve issues in the National Assembly when the prime minister does not give it any importance. If people are protesting out of parliament, the government too has to bear responsibility for the trend.
The self styled Council of Democrats which has met in London is adding fuel to the fire lit by Imran Khan. The PML-Q leaders and Tahirul Qadri want what they call ‘change through revolution’, implying that parliament has become redundant. The PTI and PML-Q have already held parleys to reach an understanding. The only factor that might stand in the way of Imran Khan and Qadri joining hands are their peculiar egos. The PPP has seen the game and has so far stood by the PML-N government. Khurshid Shah has however repeatedly complained of Nawaz Sharif not taking the opposition into confidence. There are signs of growing unhappiness in the PPP over the attitude of the PML-N. In case Sharif continues with his imperious attitude, the government would be the loser.
