IT was a scene from a Byzantine drama, no less. As 64 senators stood up to show support for a no-confidence resolution against Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, no one, least of all the joint opposition that had submitted the motion, could have foreseen the bizarre denouement. The cheerful thumping of hands on the tables appeared to be a hearty endorsement of the opposition’s wish to dethrone Mr Sanjrani — and the numbers translated into an easy win for their candidate Senator Mir Hasil Bizenjo; only 53 votes were required to oust the chairman. But the mood abruptly changed after the results of the secret ballot were announced: Mr Sanjrani had maintained his position by a whisker — a mere three votes. That meant that 14 senators had betrayed their leadership through resorting to what was widely alleged to be deliberate sabotage, by either wasting their votes, or directly voting against the motion. The ruling party burst into loud cheers, the stunned opposition cried conspiracy. Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif and PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari vowed to hold accountable those within their parties who had “sold their conscience” and “harmed democracy” for their personal interests. Not one for mincing his words, Mr Bizenjo squarely laid the blame for his defeat on the DG ISI, an allegation denied by the ISPR.

But was the outcome really unexpected in the context of our political history? Whatever the reasons — pressure from the powers that be, monetary inducements, a genuine distrust of their own leadership, or even ties with those across the aisle — for the opposition senators to go against their word, ‘horse-trading’ is very much part and parcel of how the game of politics is played here. And it is one that should be familiar enough to the PPP — that had earlier reposed its trust in the controversial Mr Sanjrani during his election as Senate chairman — and the PML-N. Both have played the game before.

In fact, in earlier times, when the then underdog PTI had spoken out against political horse-trading, the parties had ignored appeals to reform the system. Now, as they suffer from their own lack of foresight, they would do well to acknowledge that if casting a secret ballot is unprincipled in their books today, it should have been so earlier as well, when they benefited from it while others cried foul from the sidelines. Indeed, there is a lesson for all parties over here; one look at the current government, that is composed largely of former Musharraf and PPP loyalists, exposes a stark lack of principle and ideological conviction. While it is time to debate the logic of having a secret ballot in the first place, it perhaps more essential for party leaderships to look within and reflect on the culture of political opportunism that they have themselves nurtured. Without such introspection they can expect horse-trading to go on.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2019