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| June 19, 2005 | Sunday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 11, 1426 |
Speaker’s conduct damaging for PML
LAHORE, June 18: Punjab Assembly Speaker Afzal Sahi on Saturday fired a mortar shell of sorts on the opposition but it hit the edifice of the ruling party, damaging it beyond repair. The extent of the damage was realized even by some ministers and at least one of them discussed the matter with the chief minister. It is not known whether any step will be taken to rein in the speaker.
Opposition legislators had walked out after raising slogans against the speaker for not allowing their fellow-legislators, expelled from the house for 15 days, to enter the assembly building and hold talks with relevant authorities to resolve the matter. Before the protesters left the house, the speaker expelled another PML-N leader from Faisalabad for two weeks. After the punitive action, the anti-speaker din got louder and the protesters spoke against him outside the assembly building.
In the opposition-free hall, the speaker started cursing his critics. “Having seen the opposition’s attitude, I appreciate the relevant authorities which have the power to dissolve assemblies but they are exercising restraint. They are allowing the assemblies to continue despite the mess created by them. Gen Pervez Musharraf wants the assemblies to complete their term, but the opposition is determined to get them dissolved”, alleged the leader from Chak Jhumra.
The speaker said he would run the house according to the rules and would not hesitate even if he had to expel a 100 opposition legislators to maintain discipline. Though Mr Sahi was holding the opposition responsible for the alleged mess, he was forgetting, or feigning to have forgotten, the fact that in the past all assemblies were sacked for the failure of governments, not the conduct of opposition parties. Opposition parties always try to be tough on governments but it is for those at the helm to control the situation.
If, according to the speaker, quarters empowered to dissolve the elected houses are exercising restraint, they are favouring the ruling party by doing so, and not the opposition. In case the axe falls, the major casualty will be the government. The opposition will only celebrate the booting out of the ruling party.
Parties in the ARD have been demanding that the assemblies should be sacked and fresh elections held during the current year. Many leaders still claim that the general elections could be held this year.
Since the future of the assemblies is uncertain despite assurances to the contrary by President Musharraf, Saturday’s remarks of the speaker ominously remained the subject of discussions both in the house and outside.
A minister said that the speaker had provided the relevant authorities with a cogent reason for the dissolution of assemblies. He said it could be used in the charge-sheet against the present assemblies. It should be kept in mind that the conduct and the ruling of the speaker cannot be challenged anywhere. His conduct of the past few days shows that something has suddenly gone missing, something that he himself is not fully aware of. First, he likened his inflexible attitude to a that of a military horse. The analogy hit the nail bang on its head, and the opposition legislators have since been using it for hurling jibes at him.
On Friday, Mr Sahi said he would not be bothered even if not a single opposition MP was present in the house. Then he said that while the opposition claimed it had 106 MPs, it was possible that they were left only with six. Perhaps, he meant that as a result of the government’s efforts, 100 opposition MPs would join hands with the ruling party.
These irresponsible utterances should be a matter of grave concern for the ruling party. While chief minister and Punjab PML president Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi claims that the assemblies will complete their tenure and elections will be held in 2007, Speaker Sahi’s conduct betrays something else. It should be probed whether he is still with the ruling party or playing into the hands of those seeking the dissolution of the assemblies.
The poor performance of the Punjab Assembly makes it incumbent on the ruling party to honour its promise of establishing a TV channel to show assembly proceedings live. The commitment was made in the 2002 election manifesto of the ruling party.
It has been observed that many in the assembly come only to receive their salaries and allowances. They don’t take part in the proceedings, which means that they are not discharging their duties as elected representatives.
Live TV coverage will let the voters know which ones of their representatives work for them and which for themselves.
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