Govt tactic succeeds against opposition’s casual approach

ISLAMABAD: The government has repeatedly adopted a unique tactic of abruptly bringing a supplementary agenda before the legislature to get its bills passed after counting the members present and finding that it has more MPs in attendance than those of the opposition parties on the specific occasion.

The treasury suddenly springs a surprise, catching the opposition unawares, and moves the bills to pass them easily, leaving the opposition protesting and howling. Despite knowing how the government is unilaterally working in pushing its legislation, the opposition parties have been found napping, not ensuring that they have their members present. Although they have a majority in the Senate, they failed to block the passage of three government bills, which were presented to it through the additional agenda.

It was more of ineptitude of the opposition and lack of attentiveness to the official stratagem than deliberate absenting by some of its members on the given time. It is unimaginable that leading opposition stalwarts like Yousuf Raza Gilani, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Azam Nazee Tarar, Mushahid Hussain and Maulana Abdul Karim would intentionally stay away from the proceedings to give the government a walkover. The nonattendance of these leaders clearly reflected that the opposition had no clue as to what the government has up its sleeves.

If the opposition parties persist with their laid-back and slipshod approach, it is not ruled out that the government, taking advantage of their casual attitude, may repeat the gambit coming out with additional agendas to pass more bills in the Senate in future where it has always faced resistance because of its numerical inferiority.

Instead of subsequently crying foul, accusing the government of bulldozing the bills in the legislature by the opposition and putting up lame excuses, it is required to be watchful when it is confronted with a treasury that always remains in search of such opportunities and doesn’t believe in consensus legislation.

Such a change of approach by the opposition became all the more important when just two days ago the government had introduced the supplementary agenda comprising four bills in the joint session of parliament and got them cleared without any hassle.

This was a repeat of what the government had done in the previous joint parliamentary session. As per the original schedule, the bills to meet the requirements of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) were to be cleared, but after seeing that the opposition lawmakers had walked out and later boycotted the session, the government had approved four more bills in the same session.

Six senators belonging to the Dilawar Khan group, which had supported Yousuf Raza Gilani to make him the leader of the opposition in the Senate, voted for the government bills. In reality, they were never with the opposition but had backed Gilani to successfully crack the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) at the behest of others who wanted to puncture the unity of the opposition alliance. The obsession of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) to get the position of the opposition leader at all costs had in fact nailed down the multiparty opposition grouping. The plot was exposed not only in the Senate now but also in the Nov 17 joint parliamentary sitting as they had supported the government there as well.

With the Dilawar Khan group now openly assisting the government on crucial times and having deserved Gilani, the former prime minister no longer enjoys the backing of the majority of the opposition members to remain a legitimate opposition leader in the Upper House of Parliament. Regardless of his continuity or otherwise as the opposition leader, the prime motive – split of the PDM – behind the support of the Dilawar Khan group to either side was achieved after the alliance broke up when it had been quite powerful.

Even at the time of its association with Gilani, its affiliation with Gilani looked bizarre for the reason that its votes a few days back got Sadiq Sanjrani elected as the Senate chairman. It was for the first time that the same senators were simultaneously aligned with the government and opposition. Even their present vote for the official bills may not serve as an eye-opener for the PPP as it wants to keep the opposition leader’s office, which is hardly politically consequential.