September 09, 2016
No longer mine
Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly on Thursday, PTI chief Imran Khan condemned Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, saying he no longer considered him the speaker of the National Assembly. Sadiq’s supposed offence was that of the three disqualification references he received against Imran Khan and Jehangir Tareen, he decided to pass on two of them to the Election Commission of Pakistan while rejecting the four against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Perhaps it would have been better for the speaker to pass on or reject references against both sides for the sake of apparent propriety – even if it can be argued that the role of the speaker is not and should not be that of a postman. Ayaz Sadiq has said that the process of forwarding references is not a matter of keeping equilibrium but of ruling on the basis of the constitution and the law, and after examining the content of references in detail. He has claimed that this process was followed. Even if one were to totally accept the premise that Sadiq acted out of base partisan instincts, the net effect of his actions will be zero. The matter now rests with the ECP and not parliament. The ECP has already issued notifications to both Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif, directing them to respond to the disqualification petitions already with it by September 22. But then let’s not forget that this is yet another body that Imran has vehemently attacked. Targeting institutions and individuals who ‘fail’ to favour him has always been his stock-in-trade, and the victims include the ECP, the judiciary and parliament among others. If Imran believes his foreign assets are kosher while Nawaz’s family’s assets merit his removal from office, then he has ample opportunity to make his case and there is nothing Ayaz Sadiq can do about it.
Adopting a more-in-sorrow-than-anger pose while saying one no longer considers Ayaz Sadiq a legitimate speaker would perhaps be impressive if the nation suffered from amnesia. Imran cannot claim to have ever accepted Sadiq’s legitimacy; from the day after the election Imran and his party have been after Sadiq for allegedly stealing a seat. Also, few have forgotten how the same speaker and parliament were abused in the most obscene way from a container in 2014 and how the PTI members of parliament were able to make their way back to the assembly with their perks and salaries uninterrupted – because Ayaz Sadiq did not accept their resignations. At the time, the speaker was severely criticised by disinterested analysts for not acting according to law and the norms. Imran now threatens politics of the streets but there is nothing new about this as far as the PTI and its chairman go. The PTI has mostly either boycotted elections or refused to accept results; it has made a mockery of parliamentary decorum and has made its claim to power the sole reason for its existence. Politics of protests is not an evil in itself – contrary to what the PML-N stalwarts are fond of telling the nation these days. There were aspects in Imran’s speech on Thursday which have been appreciated for their general relevance. However, what matters is the ambitions and designs of those doing any kind of politics. Unfortunately for Imran, democracy seems only to be an acceptable system of government if he is in charge. That is the overriding concern behind his tirade against individuals and institutions. Preserving and strengthening the democratic system is the last thing we notice in the whole affair.
Bad boy
At the best of times, Karachi’s traffic can be a nightmare to navigate. When a politician decides to block off the city’s main hub to protest what he calls ‘Pakistan’s problems’, it is he who becomes the real problem. Faisal Vawda of the PTI took to Shahrah-e-Faisal in Karachi during peak traffic hours on Wednesday with a group of his followers and used a bus to block off access to the road for six hours. Naturally, the blockade at Shahrah-e-Faisal had a knock-on effect of causing traffic jams throughout the city, leaving ambulances stranded and access to the airport limited. Law-enforcement officials even tried negotiating with Vawda to no avail and he was justifiably arrested when he finally ended his protest. The PTI tried to disassociate itself from Vawda, saying his venture was a freelance effort but that is not good enough. As the party’s head of media affairs in Karachi, Vawda’s actions must reflect on the party.
It is likely that Vawda was trying to make a quick name for himself. He has been the subject of rumours in recent days for alleged inclinations towards Mustafa Kamal’s Pak Sarzameen Party. But Vawda has disavowed those rumours, which makes his stunt the responsibility of the PTI. No one is going to take seriously the insistence that Vawda acted alone. But if it is true it means the central leadership of the PTI, both in Karachi and nationally, is so weak that anyone can flout its will at any time. Disciplinary proceedings must be opened within the party. The larger issue of how political parties operate in Karachi also need to be addressed. A special law of the urban jungle seems to be in play wherein parties and groups feel that the hurly-burly of daily life allows them to act in any way, without caring that they are being a nuisance to the people. The norms of not only politics but community are discarded without a care. The PTI is not the only example of this but it does not appear particularly bothered by it either. A party that claims to represent a new choice should not end up acting like the old which, it claims, mostly meant nothing but misery to the people.