ISLAMABAD, March 19: Leaders of the parties which plan to form a coalition government at the centre on Wednesday vowed to remove all “vestiges of dictatorship” from the country by restoring the parliament’s sovereignty and making the judiciary independent. On the other hand, opposition lawmakers warned against confrontation.
It was, however, a unique occasion as neither the treasury lawmakers nor opposition leaders made any direct mention of the presidency or President Pervez Musharraf in their speeches to felicitate Dr Fehmida Mirza on her election as speaker.
The new leader of the joint opposition, Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi, was the first speaker. Without directly hinting at the new coalition’s intention to drastically change the Constitution, he warned against going too far in an “attempt to acquire powers”.
He said that despite the opposition’s acknowledgement of the major parities’ mandate from day one, the PPP-led coalition was trying to subvert the PML-Q’s efforts to form government in Balochistan.
Mr Elahi accused the coalition of having started horse trading.
While felicitating the new speaker, the leader of the opposition said that instead of resorting to the frivolous practice of desk thumping, the opposition would be issue-oriented.
PPP’s Makhdoom Amin Fahim sarcastically remarked about the habit of the party’s co-chairman, Asif Zardari, of “keeping his word”.
Mr Fahim said: “We must focus our attention on ending dictatorship and ushering in democracy, for which all of us should rise above our personal interests and usher in a new era of development in Pakistan.”
PML-N’s Makhdoom Javed Hashmi highlighted the “dictatorial hurdles” in the way of democracy and said that the PPP-PML-N coalition had achieved a two-thirds majority, necessary for “undoing the undesired additions to the 1973 Constitution”.
Terming the newly-elected house the first sovereign house after a long time, he said in the past the parliament had been used for serving the interests of individuals. “This house has to weed out all marks of dictatorship by restoring its prestige as an independent decision-making institution. Its first step will be the restoration of the deposed judiciary.”
He said the revival of the Constitution alone could end uncertainty.
Amid loud desk-thumping, Mr Hashmi called for presentation of the defence budget in parliament.
He said it was time for parliament to take decisions on national issues instead of their being taken in Washington or the GHQ.
Javed Hashmi said he had won his seat for a sixth time, but this time he felt himself “most independent” as it comprised “anti-establishment lawmakers” who derived their powers from an elected parliament.
“The time has come to try and punish people who abrogated the Constitution.”
Asfandyar Wali Khan of the ANP said: “No other institution in the country is superior to this august house. We are determined to support all steps that will strengthen the Constitution and parliament.” Maulana Fazlur Rahman said: “All our decisions should be taken in this house. We must revert to an Islamic, democratic and welfare system.”
Dr Farooq Sattar of the MQM said that by taking part in the election of speaker, the opposition had tried to impress upon the would-be ruling coalition that heavy mandate entailed heavy responsibilities.
Dr Sattar criticised the coalition for the delay in the formation of government as it was impeding the solutions of people’s problems.
An independent MNA, Mian Manzoor Wattoo, came up with a number of proposal for the new speaker. He that the new prime minister should attend the house twice a week to reply to legislators’ queries.
He appealed to the ruling coalition to expand its national reconciliation agenda by encompassing the MQM and the PML-Q in the national government to face the challenges confronting the nation.
He suggested a review of the “war on terror” which, according to him, was “burning our own house”.
The president of his own faction of PPP, Aftab Sherpao, said the lower house should be sovereign and debates should be encouraged.
Raja Parvaiz Ashraf of the PPP paid tribute to Benazir Bhutto for “laying down her life for democracy”.
He said his party had learned the lesson of forgiveness and forgetting the past from the slain party chairperson. “We must proceed on the path of democracy to pay homage to our leader.”
