ISLAMABAD: The opposition in the National Assembly continued its boycott of the budget session for a second day after the government refused to allow the leader of the opposition’s speech to be telecast live via the state broadcaster.

Instead, opposition leaders announced they would convene a ‘People’s Parliament’ outside Parliament House today (Wednesday) where they would initiate the budget debate.

At the outset, Leader of the Opposition Syed Khursheed Shah reminded the speaker that the latter had broken with parliamentary tradition by allowing the treasury benches to open the budget debate — a privilege usually reserved for the leader of the opposition.

Shah fumes over budget speech affront

“I don’t blame you, Mr Speaker, because I know this wasn’t your decision,” Mr Shah observed, sarcastically. “This was a bureaucrat’s decision which has been owned by you. You could have initiated a dialogue; you could have adjourned the sitting and we would have found a solution.

“You yourself had said that you would adjourn the sitting, but then you received a message and were made to take this step,” he said, referring to Ayaz Sadiq’s decision to allow Shaza Fatima Khawaja — one of the youngest lawmakers in the house — to open the budget debate on behalf of the treasury following an opposition boycott.

Mr Shah continued to browbeat the government, saying that such behaviour behoved dictators such as Gen Pervez Musharraf, not democratic regimes.

Describing the government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) as a “controlled” and “autocratic” democracy, he said that such actions pained his party because their workers had paid for this democracy with their blood.

The opposition leader also recalled how, at the height of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) sit-in, he and his party were the darlings of the PML-N, since they were on the ruling party’s side at the time.

But despite his fiery demeanour, Mr Shah said he was willing to put Monday’s affront behind them if the speaker allowed his speech to go out live via PTV.

When the speaker expressed his helplessness, Mr Shah reminded him that Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani had also issued similar orders.

Although the information minister was not in the house, Science and Technology Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain reminded the opposition that the opposition’s budget speeches were never broadcast on PTV, even during the PPP’s term.

He brushed aside comparisons with the Senate, saying that both houses had their own traditions, and held opposition parties responsible for the “breach of tradition” that occurred on Monday.

This riled up the opposition benches, who kept heckling and hooting during his speech. But Mr Hussain persevered, even taking a potshot at PTI chief Imran Khan’s poor NA attendance record. This incensed PTI lawmakers, who began to shout anti-government and anti-Nawaz slogans on the floor of the house.

The speaker, however, remained unfazed; as did the treasury benches.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi then took the floor and reminded the government about the upcoming presidential address to parliament. “Do you want to be able to run the house then?” he asked, threatening to derail the president’s speech.

“A foolish friend is worse than a wise enemy,” he mused, saying that the government had done a disservice to the office of the speaker by trying to influence his role.

Sensing that the government was not willing to budge, Mr Shah announced a boycott and led the opposition to the media dais outside Parliament House, where they announced their strategy.

“We will convene an awami parliament [on Wednesday] here, outside parliament, where all parliamentary leaders will convey the opposition’s point of view on the budget,” Mr Shah told reporters.

Mr Qureshi blamed the government’s stubbornness for the situation, and said that they would begin the budget debate outside Parliament House with the leader of the opposition’s speech.

A subsequent statement, issued by Mr Shah’s office on Tuesday afternoon, said that opposition parties would meet on Thursday, June 1 to chalk out a strategy for the upcoming presidential address to parliament.

Meanwhile, inside the house, the government managed to keep proceedings going until 2pm, despite a brief scare when quorum was pointed out by PPP’s Nafisa Shah. At the time, a number of ruling party lawmakers had retired to the lobbies to offer Zuhr prayers, but were hurriedly called back.

Then, shortly afterwards, when PPP chief whip Aijaz Jhakrani walked out of the opposition lobby to point out quorum again, the deputy speaker adjourned the sitting for fear of being embarrassed.

This won’t be the first time the opposition will be holding a “parallel session” outside Parliament House. In Nov 2013, the opposition in the Senate held a number of sittings chaired by PPP Senator Ahmed Hassan to protest wrong answers provided to the house by the government.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2017