Shortest presidential address marred by agitation, walkout

View from the Gallery

ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon’s address to Parliament was short, to the point and music to the ears of Sharif-led government. 

After all, they were patted on the back, pampered and lauded by the head of the state. Opposition felt agitated as they did not expect anything else from a ceremonial head of the state but because they were aimed at stirring controversy and making media headlines through a stepped up, ferocious agitation. They seemed particularly focused this day on the galleries filled by foreign diplomats and four-star generals.

On his part, President Mamnoon Hussain made a record on Thursday by delivering a 27-28 minutes long address to the joint sitting of Parliament – perhaps shortest ever by the standards set by previous heads of state. As a result, the whole proceedings got done within 40 minutes.

Though calm and composed even in the wake of loudest of slogans that erupted at the very beginning of his address, President Mamnoon seemed in a hurry to get it over with. Perhaps, it was the shortest presidential address till date to a joint sitting. Everyone expected a 50-60 minutes speech that is normally the case in such discourse. President Mamnoon however focused on praising economic measures, power projects and then the contours of foreign policy in his scripted address -- naturally prepared by some government adviser and vetted by the PM House. That’s how parliamentary democracy dictates the sitting toothless head of the state. But this is the normal practice anyway.

Opposition was attaching hopes that the incumbent should reprimand the government on weak accountability system, including Panama case controversies and Senator Nihal Hashmi’s episode but it was an impossible ask – day dreaming practically. Gone are the days of President enjoying himself the most potent weapon in the shape of 58(2)B – the then presidential power to dismiss the National Assembly, send the PM and his government packing. But even then, the sitting Presidents didn’t reprimand or cajole the sitting government. Even criticism used to be sugar quoted till the hammer of government dismissal was finally struck. Why on earth such an expectations from the happy go lucky President Mamnoon? 

Scripted and well rehearsed, the Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah had earlier stood up immediately as soon as Speaker invited the President to address on the rostrum. All the opposition MPs wasted no time to follow suit.

Some of them held small placards as they walked a few steps towards the Speaker’s dice, raising “Go Nawaz Go” slogans. Premier Sharif was however undeterred by all this noise as he never looked towards the hyper active, over emotional opposition MPs as rest of their colleagues continued to stand at their respective places.

PTI’s Shireen Mazari was out of control as usual, as is usually the case at such moments, she and fellow Murad Saeed love to avail fully. Ms Mazari employed all her vocal chords to raise slogans. And it was effective. Normally she doesn’t need assembly microphone to get her noise to every nook and corner of the assembly hall. But this was a special occasion as she tore apart some documents and threw it towards Speaker’s dice.

The sober of the PTI-PPP lot just stood still as they focused towards the gallery where services chiefs and diplomats were seated. Taking advantage of his seat’s proximity with the gallery where Army Chief was sitting, Sheikh Rashid beamed an unusual sober look. Standing a few feet away PTI’s Shafqat Mahmood displayed a more obedient body language as he gazed the services chiefs gallery repeatedly. But, a simple villager in Jamshed Dasti was careless to the core.

He blew whistles, raised slogans and laughed and enjoyed the atmosphere all the time. Foreign envoys and four-star generals couldn’t resist ignoring such a simple, spontaneous performance of an opposition MP that looked like a traditional cultural show. These are fruits of independence and free will only democracy provides, can afford. Pandemonium, sloganeering and agitation are not new to our parliamentary system.

Far worse scenes were witnessed in the 90s by the then Presidents, Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Farooq Leghari. The agitation at hand was different in nature – directed towards Premier Nawaz Sharif on the occasion of presidential address and it is naturally so. Sharif is a powerful chief executive in a system where president is merely a figure head. Mamnoon Hussain is as toothless as his predecessor Rafiq Tarar, also handpicked by Sharif in 1997.

Like elder Zardari sahib picked Yusuf Raza Gilani in year 2008. But Zardari’s style of governance was more indirect as he ruled as a de fecto head of government and made big decisions all by himself. On the face of it, Gilani was premier, but the whole cabinet and bureaucracy looked towards the President House. But everything was done formally through the then premier as rules required. Premier Sharif is a different mold. He is accommodative and pleasant generally. But on occasions can take a sudden and reactionary stance when pushed to the wall. Take the case at hand. Since last Monday he didn’t budge to Opposition Leader’s demand cum dictates on his live speech coverage.

And here we are as Opposition has already stirred a storm in a cup of tea. With Senator Nehal Hashmi’s episode factored in, even then the combined opposition had to walk out after staging only a 10-minute long protest – short by PTI and Sheikh Rashid standards. But PPP and rest of the experienced lot didn’t want to cross the red lines in presence of the military establishment.

Politically, they could be blamed for crossing the bearable threshold by the PML-N standards. Outside Parliament, the leading lights of the combined opposition were not able to get more than 30 minutes of live coverage by the independent media as they came out.

That said the opposition leader seemed justified in demanding his speech be telecast live as only state-run television could bear it free of charge. But that was not to be. Even on Thursday morning three ministers tried in vain to sell a new coverage package (all parliamentary leaders inclusive) to the opposition lot provided they promise to remain quiet during Presidential address.

It was not welcome, perhaps too late, as the opposition leaders had already finalised details of the agitation and walk out. With this plan in place, they sat for a few minutes and waited impatiently for national anthem and recitation from the holy book to complete. Rest is all noise and part of parliamentary record. But one thing is sure. No more live coverage for Khursheed Shah, Aitzaz Ahsan duo for days and weeks to come.