In the parliamentary tradition, the address of the head of state to the opening session of the legislative year is a momentous occasion. It is a very important event with a lot of ceremonial formalities, and all members, irrespective of party affiliations, show respect to the office of president or monarch, as the case may be.
All established democracies observe this ritual. Even in the United States, which has the presidential system, the presidents State of the Union address is attended by all members. This January, Barack Obamas party, the Democratic Party, did not have majority in the lower house, the House of Representative. Despite this the members of the Republican Party, the majority party in the lower house, listened to Obama with patience and respect.
What we witnessed on March 22 while the President addressed the joint session of the parliament was sad and disappointing, although the walk-out was still better than the disruption of the joint session by the opposition. The PML(N) media people can always make arguments to justify their action and accuse the federal government of poor governance, corruption, power shortages, price hikes and all the evils in Pakistan. However, the key issue is how far the walk-out was helpful in the cause of eliminating these problems? The PML(N) and other parties succeeded in embarrassing the federal government because a large number of guests, including foreign diplomats and the services chiefs, were attending the session but the opposition also exposed itself by showing that it had no regard for parliamentary traditions.
The political leaders have turned democracy into a joke by political adamancy and refusal to look beyond their immediate party interests. They need to review their disposition and give-up point-scoring against each other.
Democracy is more than rhetoric. Its success and failure depends on what the political class does. During 1988-1999, the opposition parties always disrupted the Presidents address to the joint session. Both the PML(N) and the PPP engaged in such activities. One female member of the PML(N) wore an extra chaddar when President Farooq Leghari addressed the joint session. She threw the extra chaddar towards the President. During these years we saw some well-known parliamentarians dancing, shouting or pushing each other while the president addressed the house.
It seems that Pakistani politics is returning to the troubled days of earlier experiments with democracy. That phase ended with the breakdown of the parliamentary system and assumption of power by the military. It was Nawaz Sharifs civilian government that was knocked out by the military. Not many people regretted the removal of the government then because the government and the opposition had turned democracy into a big farce.
It cannot be denied that the performance of the federal government has been poor and it failed to cope with the major crises inherited in 2008. This is also true that President Asif Ali Zardari did not make any spectacular statement in his address to the joint session of the parliament. The crucial issue is how far the federal government can be blamed for all the current problems of Pakistan? All the major parties are in power somewhere. If the PPP is leading the federal government, the PML(N) rules the province of Punjab. The MQM shares power in Sindh and, until recently, it was part of the federal government. Now, it supports the federal government without accepting any cabinet position. The ANP rules Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The Balochistan cabinet accommodates several political parties.
All parties must therefore share the blame of the current problems in Pakistan. The PML(N) has to take the major portion of the responsibility because it rules the Punjab which has 56-57 percent of Pakistans population. If it efficiently performs its tasks like control of prices and maintenance of law and order, the majority of Pakistani population will be satisfied. The poverty of governance in the Punjab is similar to what is happening in other provinces or at the federal level.
Similarly, the MQM must also share the blame for what is happening in Karachi. However, the MQMs policy is to enjoy the rewards of power without taking any responsibility for the government failures. The moment the MQM realises that some government policy is going to be unpopular, it distances itself from the federal government or the Sindh government and starts behaving like an opposition party.
The PML(N) has a number of political leaders like Chaudhry Nisar Ali, Ahsan Iqbal, Khwaja Asif, Raja Zafarul Haq, Rana Sanaullah and Siddiqul Farooq who have much contempt for the PPP. However, Nawaz Sharif kept them in check so that the relationship with the PPP was not completely spoiled. Now, either Nawaz Sharif has given them a go ahead to take-on the PPP or Nawaz Sharif is no longer in a position to hold them back.
This strategy is not going to pay off the PML(N) because, being the ruling party in the Punjab, it is vulnerable. With the knocking out of the PPP ministers from the Punjab government, the PML(N) gave an opportunity to the PPP to get closer to its arch rival, the PML(Q). The PML(N) government is now facing a difficult time in the Punjab Assembly. Its problems are going to increase if it continues to target the PPP-led federal government.
The PML(Q) also staged the walk-out to show its displeasure on the criminal case against Moonis Elahi, son of Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, often projected as the future chief minister of the Punjab. The Chaudhry family blames some federal ministers for the action against Moonis. This rift does not mean that the PML(Q) will turn against the PPP. It has greater disagreement with the PML(N) and would need PPP support to build pressure on the PML(N) in the Punjab.
The PML(N) and other opposition parties are good at criticising the PPP-led federal government or the Sindh government but they do not have any articulate plan of action to cope with Pakistans problems. If the political parties cannot rise above their partisan interests and think that they can shirk responsibility by blaming the federal government for all problems, they are mistaken. The people are getting alienated from all the political class rather than the PPP alone. If the political leaders do not join together to address the problems of the common people, all political leaders will be crushed under the weight of non-elected state institutions.
The writer is an independent political and defence analyst.
