Return of the native?

PTI seems willing to come back to the parliamentary fold

Yet another session of the Parliament with speaker after speaker reminding the PM of the blunders committed by his government and then assuring him that none could remove him from the office as he enjoyed the solid support of every party present in the Parliament. The government was criticised for giving a freehand to the protesters and for failure to establish its writ in Islamabad. It was castigated for allowing the mobs to occupy part of the premises of the Parliament House and for keeping parliamentarians hostage for hours and forcing them to enter the House through a backdoor.

Never in the past had the Prime Minister or the members of his cabinet received so much of earful. The House burst into applause. Many on the treasury benches who feared to give vent to their feelings also joined the clapping.

This turned out to be the day of the speakers belonging to smaller provinces. They demanded adherence to the constitution and preserving the Parliament at every cost to save the federation.

A day earlier Opposition parties had simultaneously initiated an attempt to hold talks with the PTI and PAT. The move partly bore fruit as Imran Khan decided to send PTI’s Vice President Shah Mehmud Qureshi to explain his party’s views before the joint House. To everyone’s surprise Qureshi lavished praises over the Parliament which Imran had earlier rejected as a bogus institution. What Qureshi said made it clear that strong differences had emerged between the PAT and PTI and the later was keen to return to the National Assembly.

The initiative by the Opposition which had the PM’s blessings has come at the right moment. The return of PTI might be unpalatable to its rivals in KP. The move should however be welcomed as it would divide the protesters and discourage conspirators. The impact of Altaf Hussain’s directive to MQM parliamentarians to resign would be lessened with the return of the PTI to the fold.