EDITORIAL: Today, the National Assembly is scheduled to begin a debate on the no-confidence motion that the Deputy Speaker, who was officiating the house’s business in the absence of a ‘highly controversial’ Speaker, allowed it to be tabled following the receipt of as many as 161 signatures of the Members National Assembly (MNAs), all belonging to the joint opposition, on it.
It is a fact that the joint opposition has so far successfully pursued and implemented its strategy, which is ultimately aimed at ousting an embattled but a beleaguered prime minister. The question is what will follow in the event of incumbent PM’s removal from the prime minister’s house? It’s quite likely that after his election through secret ballot in the house Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N’s) Shehbaz Sharif whose party has the largest number of MNAs after ruling party Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) will seek a vote of confidence and the legislators belonging to joint opposition along with some of those who have quit the ruling coalition in recent days will elect him obligingly. But this development, however profound, is unlikely to help end the political strife that has historically played the role of a catalyst for military interventions because the “battle of the Punjab” can play out in a manner that may become a cause of sheer consternation for a now visibly jubilant opposition, adding to political unrest in the country.
Although Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari has claimed that the candidate the PTI has chosen to replace the chief minister Usman Buzdar, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, does not have the required number of votes to become chief minister of Punjab, it is increasingly clear that the PTI seems to have denied PML-N and other opposition parties an opportunity to repeat what they have successfully done to PTI-led coalition government at the Centre. Moreover, it is a fact that the joint opposition has dismissed prime minister’s “foreign-funded conspiracy” claim with utter disdain and contempt for some obvious reasons, although the PTI is insisting that the no-confidence motion is the result of that “conspiracy” only, which is aimed at punishing the incumbent government for articulating and pursuing an independent foreign policy in the history of the country.
Although all PTI MNAs have been forbidden from attending the NA session by their leadership, the treasury benches will not be serving any national interest by preferring to avoid a thorough and informed debate on the “foreign conspiracy” issue as part of an all-encompassing debate on the opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion against the prime minister because this development is far more grave and profound than even vote on no-confidence resolution the lower house of parliament is at present seized with. In other words, the government must not let this opportunity slip away. It can take this issue to its logical conclusion because a window has presented itself in the shape of a debate in the house. The government must take advantage of it.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022