PTI’s boycott of joint session to mar national unity against India

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has boycotted Wednesday’s joint parliamentary session as if Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is the host.

He strongly believed that the PTI’s staying away will impinge hard on the premier but he forgets to note that his action will in fact mar the national unity against India and on the Kashmir cause and send a wrong message to the neighbouring bully and the world at large.

Nawaz Sharif has the “ownership” of the Parliament, which Imran Khan’s deputy Shah Mehmood Qureshi described as “political Kaaba” during heady days of his 2014 sit-in, as much as the PTI chief has like all other MPs. It is nobody’s exclusive domain but every MP has its equal stakes in it. The MPs take pride in attending, defending and protecting the forum from where they draw their legitimacy and power.

Had Imran Khan abstained from Monday’s deliberations of the parliamentary leaders, questioning Nawaz Sharif’s “moral legitimacy” on account of the Panama Papers disclosures for not presenting himself for accountability, the PTI chief might have some political justification because the premier was its host. His boycott of the parliamentary session is obviously unfortunate and inopportune, lacking any logic and reasoning.

The PTI chairman did not realise that the parliamentary session had not been called for the promotion, aggrandizement, consolidation and promotion of the prime minister but for a national cause.

As the parliamentary leaders’ conference went well for the mere reason that it came out with one voice against Indian brutalities, threats and fake actions, and the points raised by everyone were accommodated in the joint communiqué, the PTI chief thought it proper to rock the consensus. The decision to absent from the parliamentary session is a belated second thought.

After having leisure time for two days in Nathia Gali in the company of his close friends following his hectic schedule to organise his Riawind march, Imran Khan wanted to bring out of his bag something that renders the prime minister unfazed. Whether or not Nawaz Sharif was upset, the PTI chief’s move has certainly shown its antipathy to a parliament for the mere fact that it has a minor say there.

The holding of the Riawind rally near the prime minister’s private residence despite the fact that it was strongly opposed by all the opposition parties simply because its venue was not proper was meant to pile pressure on Nawaz Sharif and take political advantage by hammering that the prime minister is not agreeing to the PTI’s Terms of Reference (ToRs) for a judicial probe into the offshore companies.

The boycott of the parliamentary session is also part of the same campaign of taking extreme steps to reap political dividends. On the other hand, Imran had announced four days back that he would attend the parliamentary session to forcefully present his point of view.

The message of national unity that came out of Monday’s moot would be marred by the PTI’s boycott. Already, it was being talked about in India that while Pakistan’s political leadership is on the same page on Kashmir, the same is not the case in India.

While boycotting the joint session of the Parliament, Imran also demanded the resignation of the prime minister and said Nawaz Sharif has two options - either resign and let some other Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader take over as the premier or present himself for accountability on offshore companies.

It is clear that the PTI chairman has not learnt a lesson from his bitter past when he had stressed for months that the premier should resign. Finally, he had to give up this demand when other political parties vehemently rejected it. Even otherwise, he had failed to force the prime minister to quit.

There is some serious problem in the consultative process of the PTI. Reports about the meeting held at the Banigala to decide about boycott spoke of gross differences. Imran Khan imposed his decision and snubbed the dissenters.