In 1965, a professor asked at a science conference President Ayub Khan the question. Why he prefers the Presidential system in Pakistan? His answer was “Pakistani elected representatives are not educated.” They do not understand economy and geopolitics of the world. Military strategy is beyond their comprehension. He says, he cannot agree more with him even after 54 years.
The assembly sessions are farce. No place in the world except in Pakistan, the opposition members shout, display slogans and their demands in front of the speaker. Somebody must tell them to behave themselves.
It was amid a noisy protest by the opposition parties and scuffles that Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar presented the first full-fledged budget of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led coalition government in the National Assembly.
The opposition members carrying placards and wearing black armbands as mark of protest against the arrests of a number of their colleagues, including former president Asif Ali Zardari and Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz, gathered right in front of the treasury benches and kept on raising full-throated slogans like “Go Niazi Go” and “Say no to IMF budget”.
The opposition members also constantly targeted the prime minister’s sister Aleema Khan in their slogans, saying they would not accept the “Aleema Khan’s budget”.
Minor scuffles also broke during the protest when some of the protesting members were physically stopped by the treasury members from advancing towards the prime minister and the minister of state.
This is a very critical phase of the confrontation between the PTI government and the opposition parties that now have all the more reason to be united against a drive to crush them.
These two opposition parties have many reasons to be angry and animated. They have created chaos in the past and are connected to other opposition groups with their own axe to grind against those in power.
But then the PTI leadership is not famous for choosing its fights wisely even when the situation on the ground demands its full focus on the economy. The opposition’s mood during the budget speech is anything but a reflection of the things to come. The possibility of the businesses affected by the new tax measures joining the opposition against the ruling party could make the task of stabilizing the economy even more difficult as the situation unfolds over the next several weeks or months.
