IT goes without saying that the entire country wished well the prime minister who was to undergo a major surgery on Tuesday. Having said that, what happened on Monday was disappointing.

The entire episode has been used by the government to seek sympathy for the prime minister to boost his falling popularity. What was the purpose of broadcasting every chief minister’s/governor’s message live on state television during the video link session.

It would have been enough if a senior federal minister, speaking on behalf of the entire cabinet and economic council, would have wished the premier well and got on to the normal scheme of things.

What was the purpose of every minister repeating the same words live on television one after the other?

Second, this incident reveals the lack of trust the premier has in the parliamentary system. Why did the prime minister not announce earlier that he was going to have an upcoming surgery before leaving for London? Why was a cabinet session not called then? Such major decisions should have been taken earlier before the prime minister left. That would have quelled the rumours altogether. Merely announcing decisions on the spur of the moment is not the right way and adds to the ever-circulating conspiracy theories.

Daniyal Zahid

Lahore

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2016