THE war of words inside parliament between government representatives and opposition figures is threatening to spiral out of control, and senior figures on both sides ought to intervene to restore order and put the business of parliament back on track.

Yesterday, Chairman of the Senate Sadiq Sanjrani moved to bar Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry from attending the ongoing Senate session for failing to apologise to the house as directed.

A day earlier, the information minister had once again been embroiled in an ugly slanging match with the opposition benches and was repeatedly warned by the Senate chairman to not use unparliamentary language.

An analysis of who provoked whom, however, is unlikely to produce a definitive answer, and Mr Chaudhry and the PTI will likely argue that it is the opposition that has contributed to an unhealthy parliamentary environment.

Indeed, it appears that neither the government nor the opposition is able to resist being baited by the other at the moment.

If the sour mood in parliament is to improve, the custodians of both the lower and upper house will likely need to improve their performance.

Speaker of the National Assembly Asad Qaiser has thus far proved woefully inadequate in his role at the national level, having been elevated from a term as speaker of the KP Assembly.

Chairman Sanjrani was even more inexperienced when he was catapulted from obscurity to high office and chosen to take control of an upper house in which no one party has anything approaching a majority.

Just as the previous PML-N government was not the largest party in the Senate during the first half of its term in government during the previous assemblies, the PTI faces an upper house where, despite being the governing party, it has fewer members than the opposition.

Chairman Sanjrani’s controversial election in March may also have contributed to a sense among senators that they can behave in a manner that in different circumstances they would have avoided.

Could a more experienced and firmly in control Senate chairman have handled the impasse in the house skilfully?

Ultimately, however, it is the leaderships on both sides of the house that must bear responsibility for their members’ words and actions.

The PML-N seems to believe that a war of words with the government is the right tactic for the party at the moment.

The PPP, caught between not wanting to fully align itself either with the PML-N in opposition or work with the PTI treasury benches, has seemingly taken to walkouts from the assemblies.

The PTI, apparently under siege for its stuttering start as a governing party at the federal level, continues to rely on opposition-style rhetoric.

All sides must urgently reconsider their approach to parliament and let good sense prevail.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2018