Aftermath of law passage in parliament: Opportune time for politicians to exploit newfound bonhomie?

ISLAMABAD: For the first time in 17 months of the present government, political milieu has become tension-free, though temporarily, because the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the principal opposition parties appeared on the same page on the legislation to give three-year extension to Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa as the army chief.

There are several features and high points of the huge development that happened not because of any persuasive negotiation skills of the PTI but due to other dominant factors that matter in Pakistan’s politics much more than anything else.

Without any manoeuvering by the ruling party, the main opposition forces--the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)--voluntarily concurred for their considerations to fully supporting the law in the parliament. It was because of their decision that the entire exercise was conducted effortlessly.

To show its good behaviour, the PPP even withdrew its amendments at the drop of a hat the moment the defence minister made such a request in the National Assembly. In the wake of the broader consensus among key parliamentary forces, the bills were quickly passed in both the House without debate

Now a pertinent question arises as to how long the current bonhomie will continue. It is widely expected that it will not long last due to the peculiar attitudes of igniting confrontation for petty gains.

However, it seems on the cards that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which has already been watered down by the government on its own without any prodding from the opposition will be further moderated with the incorporation of some demands of the opposition. Such stage will arrive when the recently promulgated amendment ordinance will be tabled in parliament.

The opposition has been massively bitten by NAB law like never before but the government too is unhappy with it to a great extent. The shame and focus of the accountability campaign is going to fundamentally change in the days to come.

The present rare mantra following the parliamentary approval of the services’ chiefs’ law of the PTI leaders, who have been lambasting the opposition day in and day out for years, is that the opposition demonstrated “commendable patriotism, sense of responsibility, maturity, sagacity, positive and constructive approach, national solidarity, and realisation of national interest on a prime issue of national security”.

A common refrain of the government and opposition is that parliament’s supremacy has been established and reinforced as it has done the requisite legislation and the Supreme Court left it to the legislature to make the necessary law to regulate the extension/reappointment of the armed forces’ chiefs.

Another joint chorus is that the discretionary power of the prime minister to extend the tenure of the army chief, which already existed thought without the backing of a law, has now been formalised and legalised through a proper legislation. The two sides have quoted the example of extension granted to Gen Pervez Ashfaque Kayani by the PPP government in which too the then premier exercised his discretion.

A key characteristic of the development is that the PML-N is under tremendous pressure from within and outside. Loud voices emerged against the leadership’s decision, and its main point man in this lawmaking, Khawaja Asif, has to answer piercing questions. He has been mainly relying on the determination of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif in this connection. “I was only the implementer of their decision,” he has repeatedly replied to the inquisitive voices. But grumbling continues unabated. The PML-N will require a lot of time to placate its dejected and demoralised rank and file. It will be clear with the passage of time which political party gained and which one lost in this episode. Parliamentary forces are engaged in weighing their gains and losses.

However, for now the PML-N is on the defensive. It is struggling to guard against scathing criticism and engaged in controlling the damage it has suffered. The social media has been on fire against it. Even those Twitter accounts, which have always promoted its policies and strategies of all sorts, have subjected it to lethal criticism.

The tirade always referred to Nawaz Sharif’s civilian supremacy narrative “give respect to the vote”. To assuage the angry lot, the party bigwigs have started elaborating the logic, reasons and causes that weighed heavily on the leadership’s mind to take the instant decision. Rana Sanaullah has admitted that the party workers are unhappy and have to be taken into confidence.

But on the contrary, there is business as usual in the PPP. Private discussions apart, it has not seen any commotion like the PML-N. No dissenting voices emerged against the decision of the leadership to vote for the bills. Asif Ali Zardari reached this conclusion and the entire parliamentary party said a resounding yes to it.

The way the PML-N and PPP voted abundantly established once again that Nawaz Sharif and Zardari are the undisputed leaders of their parties and their word is ultimate, unchallenged. They are extremely seriously ill but continue to have their forces under a firm grip. Whether in Pakistan or abroad, they are the ones, who take decisions.

Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) President Ahmed Bilal Mehboob has summed up the process of approval of the bills in a series of tweets. He wrote that it is probably wrong to expect idealism from politicians. They practice art of possible and need to survive to fight another day. Exile to Jeddah, NRO with Musharraf and voting for extension bills are part of survival strategy. Bad? Maybe. Their mistake is idealistic talk they can’t walk.

He posted that every time he witnesses a struggle for civilian democratic supremacy, his respect for that lean, thin, soft-spoken politician of Sindh--Muhammad Khan Junejo--enhances many times. “He so wisely manoeuvered his way for civilian supremacy while he had no card in his hand. I am deeply, deeply disturbed that passing laws in the parliament without any meaningful debate is becoming new normal. We seem to be at peace with it.”

Ahmed Bilal Mehboob also wrote that a relatively small point: We still stick to outdated voice vote system which leaves no record of who voted for or against. “We bought expensive electronic voting system for National Assembly, but it is dysfunctional. We want to know the legislators who vote for or against a bill--every bill. Sad part is there is no real debate or discussion in committees & plenaries of Parliament. Top leader is the ultimate wise guy who decides and the rest may sulk but follow. This makes parliament almost redundant & hostage to a few ‘top leaders’- - bad news for Democracy.