A speech amid a boycott

The speech delivered by the president of Pakistan to a joint session of parliament on August 20, 2020 did not seem like an address of a head of the state. It sounded more like a fiery speech of a party worker trying to defend his party. It was boycotted by the opposition and, in retrospect, rightly so. I remember when the late president Ghulam Ishaq Khan gave a speech in a joint session, things were so bitter that one of the PML-N (the opposition party at that time) lawmakers threw her dupatta at the speaker.

It seems that our politics is so tainted with hate and selfishness that nobody cares where the country is going. It also appears that the people of Pakistan rank too low in the priority of the parties in both power and the opposition. While people are dying under soaring inflation, ever-deteriorating economy, and the worst conditions of health and safety, our politicians are busy in a farce to prove the superiority of their party leaders.

Raja Shafaatullah

Islamabad