For the first time since taking charge of his office in August 2018, Prime Minister Imran Khan could finally deliver a comprehensive speech in a deeply polarized National Assembly of Pakistan Wednesday afternoon.
A significant number remained present on the Opposition benches throughout his long speech, stretching far beyond an hour. But hardly a person from there felt the need to drown his voice by inciting rude chants.
During the opening moments of his address, though, not more than three members of Pakistan Muslim League half-heartedly uttered some disruptive remarks. The distinct voice of Ms Maryam Aurangzeb, the spokesperson of her party, did sound leading. But to surprise many in the press gallery, Khawaja Saad Rafique, who was once famous for being a street hardened hawk, instantly left his seat to ensure calm.
And he took no time to deliver.
I also have it from credible sources that Mian Shehbaz Sharif, the PML-N President, had passed on firm directions to his people that they should furnish noticeable calm during Imran Khan’s speech in the National Assembly. That probably helped Saad Rafique to quickly manage things with his colleagues.
Only at the tail end of his otherwise astonishingly guarded and almost appeasing speech, Imran Khan briefly switched to passionately plead for one of his pet themes, i.e. ruthless accountability of “looters and plunderers.” But then he quickly moved on to discuss Afghanistan and firmly repeated his government’s resolve that Pakistan would not fight “America’s war” in or on that country.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman-led Jamiat-e-Ulma-e-Islam (JUI-F) is considered the most hawkish opponent of the Imran government. With the idea of toppling the same, Maulana had also come to Islamabad, two years ago, with a huge crowd of his followers. But legislators of this party of the religious-right enthusiastically welcomed Imran Khan’s decision of not letting the US establish a military base in Pakistan to watch over Afghanistan, with spirited and prolonged desk thumping.
At the outset of his speech, the Prime Minister politely addressed the Opposition to make them understand that Pakistan could only get controversy-free elections, if Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were used to hold them. Without taking the opposition parties on board, his government had already introduced a set of laws in the name of ensuring free, fair and impartial elections. The Opposition is simply not willing to accept them. With the clear intent of softening its leaders, the Prime Minister directly spoke to them on the subject from the national assembly floor Wednesday.
The PTI handlers of parliamentary business were not sure how the opposition would behave, when the prime minister took the floor after the passage of the third budget prepared by his government. Led by some highly senior and seasoned ministers, the ruling party had ganged up to disrupt the customary speech the Opposition Leader in the National Assembly traditionally delivers to open ‘the general debate’ on budgetary proposals. For three constant days, they stirred and sustained unprecedented chaos and bedlam to prevent Shehbaz Sharif.
The ugly scenes, surfacing during these days, surely damaged the collective image of our parliamentarians. Eventually, the saner elements from both sides were forced to have second thoughts and a decent modus operandi was agreed upon after protracted negotiations.
Yet, some panicky loyalists of Imran Khan were almost certain that the Opposition was adamantly determined to “get even” with them during the speech of Imran Khan. To ensure the perfect calm, Speaker Asad Qaisar had to hold more than two rounds of lengthy discussions with Opposition representatives. Only after extracting the promise of “good behavior,” he conveyed “all clear” message to Prime Minister’s Office and Imran Khan walked into the House during the closing hour of Wednesday sitting for delivering his speech.
But the operative and lengthy parts of his speech certainly hinted that Imran Khan remained hooked to the idea of either/or, no more. He sounded as if strongly believing that Pakistan was about to go bankrupt, when he took the charge of Prime Minister’s Office in 2018. Instead of losing hope, he bravely opted to face the challenge. But much before he could manage some economic recovery, Pakistan was invaded by Covid-19 like the rest of the world.
Imran Khan firmly believes that his vision, pure heart and noble intentions helped him to imagine policies, which defied the gloom-driven ‘experts.’ And the dedicated execution of these policies eventually enabled Pakistan to surprise the world by showing near 4 percent rate of growth at the end of fiscal 2020-21.
The miracle-looking success had apparently not gone to his head. It rather turned him humble. He definitely showed a large heart to his ardent opponents, he once seemed obsessed to take on, vigorously. The speech he delivered Wednesday was an authentic reflection of his current mood. But I am yet not sure how the Opposition would take it.
At the outset of Wednesday sitting of the National Assembly, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari rather appeared behaving unusually aggressive and unforgiving. The real target of his ire, though, remained the allegedly partisan conduct of the Speaker and his deputy, throughout the budget session. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari indeed counted some valid points for spinning the story that the Opposition was not allowed to “proving the real strength” of the government during the budget session. The Speaker and his deputy audaciously kept ignoring the demands for headcounts on many occasions.
In spite of being a veteran and shrewd parliamentarian, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, felt unjustifiably tempted to defend the Speaker. That certainly infuriated the youthful PPP Chairman. Defying his cultivated image of a “polite gentleman,” BBZ turned shockingly aggressive to viciously deride the person of Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
After the election of 2008, Qureshi had been desperately vying to grab the attention of Asif Ali Zardari. He did everything to persuade the PPP leader that instead of his old and main rival from Multan, Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani, he should be nominated to the Prime Minister’s Office. Gillani defeated him in the end and Qureshi has yet to forgive and forget.
With sadistic grin, the PPP Chairman kept referring to “those days” and in all seriousness tried to “forewarn” Imran Khan that Qureshi was dying to replace him. “We (the PPP) know him (Qureshi) too well,” BBZ kept insisting. “Prime Minister should ask the ISI to vigilantly monitor his phone to find out (the games, Qureshi might have been playing to unseat Imran Khan these days).”
Qureshi miserably failed to take BBZ’s taunts with a cool heart. He rather got provoked to the extent of rudely telling BBZ: “I know you since you were a small baby; have also seen you crying for getting a large piece of pizza. You still need many more years to get mature for doing politics.”
The condescending but deriding tone of Shah Mahmood Qureshi enraged the PPP backbenchers. Most of them left their seats to get menacingly closer to Qureshi. But Bilawal Bhutto Zardari firmly stopped them. Staying put in their corner, however, they drowned out the voice of Shah Mahmood Qureshi with possessive chants of highly rude refrains.
Shahid Khaqan Abbassi of the PML-N and Maulana Asad Mehmud of the JUI (F) were equally aggressive in taking on the Speaker. Trust his thick skin, though. In the end the same person, Asad Qaisar, finally succeeded to create an amazingly peaceful environment that facilitated the Prime Minister to deliver an extraordinarily lengthy but relatively aiming to “winning the hearts speech.”