THE recent activity in parliament regarding the Army Amendment Act has proved that given the right motivation, our parliamentary procedures can come out of a deadlock.

Unfortunately, these motivations are yet to become righteous. The sudden and swift action of politicians for the passing of the bill makes one wonder about the future of democratic principles in Pakistan. Just over a year ago, the slogans of ‘civilian supremacy’ were the norm among the main opposition parties and the word ‘selected’ was attributed to Prime Minister Imran Khan.

So now is it safe to say that ‘selected prime minister’ is a label of the past? Or the ‘selected’ now suits all the politicians who chose to approve the bill? The government might have come to power on dubious grounds, but it is the opposition today that has effectively legitimised that rampant abuse of constitutional provisions.

Badar Khalid
Faisalabad

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2020