Punjab's Budget an unsavoury spectacle

The budget session of the Punjab Assembly was noteworthy for two events - one extremely pleasant and the other equally unpleasant. It was a delightful sight indeed when the newly-appointed Finance Minister, Kamran Michael - a Christian - came to present the provincial budget accompanied by religious leaders of the local Christian community.
From the general perspective, it was a much welcome recognition of the pluralistic character of our society. Minority members have held ministerial positions before, but rarely, if at all, they served in any other position than the minority affairs ministry. For the larger Christian community, it may hold symbolic value only. But in the present trying times, symbolism too is important.
The civility of that scene though was soon rudely disturbed by members of the august House as they broke into a scuffle. It all started with a pre-planned move on the part of the Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, PPP's Raja Riaz to avenge the PML-N members' attempts at embarrassing the Federal Finance Minister during his budget speech. Soon after the session started Riaz rose on a point of order to make some sarcastic remarks about Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif's appearance in the House, and then walked up to him with a practical taunt in the form of a garland for attending the assembly session for the first time in eight months. Two PML-N members stopped him while Law Minister Rana Sanaullah snatched the garland. What followed was a free for all.
To say the least, the incident reflects badly on the legislators. They are supposed to act as the keepers of public conscience and lead by example. But in the present instance they have behaved worse than street urchins. Some may want to point to examples from other democracies, such as India, where these things do happen once in a while, to argue that such scenes may be undesirable, but they are part of the democratic process. Looked at from another angle, though, the very fact that such scenes in India and other countries were recorded and shown on television screens and newspaper pages, underscores the fact that they are not regarded as something normal, and therefore acceptable. The legislature in a functioning democracy is a place where opinions and styles differ. And no matter how extreme the differences, the only way to air them is through civilised debate and discussion. Rowdy behaviour, on the other hand, can easily destroy an otherwise good argument.