Participating in general discussion on The Finance (Supplementary) Bill- popularly called the mini-budget- in the National Assembly Wednesday, Chairman Pakistan Peoples’ Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, surely delivered a tightly focused speech.
Instead of drifting to taunting point scoring, he preferred highlighting operative parts of the mini-budget to worryingly forewarn that they were mercilessly set to squeeze millions of Pakistanis, already feeling stuck in the middle and lower income groups. Instead of hoping for upward mobility, they would now be forced to anxiously struggle to prevent slipping to the pain and depths of miserable poverty.
He also spent sufficient time to explain how and why the non-availability of Urea in November-December last year was set to massively diminish the yields of various crops, including wheat. And this might lead to serious incidents of food security in the country. Some very experienced legislators from the opposition benches further elaborated the alarming story BBZ had told.
After a long gap, Khawaja Muhammad Asif of Pakistan Muslim League also delivered a fire spitting speech. unforgivingly, he continued projecting Imran Khan as a novice outsider, “propped” to the Prime Minister’s Office by perennially scheming quarters of our deep state. But he also attempted to make us believe that ‘promoters’ were now feeling embarrassed about him.
The government benches didn’t appear really upset with focused and harsh speeches from the opposition benches. They continue to feel too secure and comfortable by firmly holding on to their official narrative. This narrative projects all the old and experienced politicians as contemptible icons of “the rotten and corrupt politics.”
Instead of defending the massive withdrawal of tax concessions for a huge number of daily use items with solid and essentially economic arguments, speakers from the government benches keep drumming the story that Pakistan is finding itself stuck in dire financial straits due to accumulated mismanagement by the previous governments of Pakistan Muslim League (N) and the PPP.
Hammad Azhar, the youthful minister from Lahore, tried to drum up the same story. But the moment he took the floor, the opposition pointed out the lack of quorum. The House had to be adjourned for the lack of it and it required more than an hour to resume proceedings. Azhar felt doubly furious due to such embarrassing disruption and took on the opposition with furious lynching.
Then to deride the opposition by rubbing in its pet theme, the government managed the floor for Ms Alya Hamza. She is a first timer to the Assembly from Lahore and occupies a seat reserved for women members. In spite of reaching the house through an unelected route, Ms Hamza took no time to establish her perfect command over economy-related issues. As the parliamentary secretary, she always comes to the House to answer questions after diligent homework. But she also has the enviable skill to prove Pakistan as the most prosperous and dynamic country under the sun, if the need be, by intelligently selecting and coolly projecting an enabling set of data.
Wednesday, she employed the same trick to demolish the opposition-promoted theme that Pakistan’s economy was relentlessly drifting to absolute doom and gloom. Eagerly waiting for their turn to speak on the mini-budget, many senior members of the opposition parties politely reminded the chair that a “junior” from the treasury benches was being given more time than the time permitted, even for opposition leaders.
Amjad Khan Niazi was presiding over the sitting then and he asked Ms Hamza to finish her speech. Ms Saira Bano, another lady member from the Grand Democratic Alliance –an allied party- felt extremely annoyed with this order from the chair.
She felt offended that “her friend” was being interrupted and then she went on to deliriously complain that the chair always allows far more time to the opposition to malign the government, but instantly begin interrupting when “appropriate replies” start coming from “our side.”
Amjad Khan Niazi refused to budge and this provoked Ms Bano to point out the lack of quorum. Amir Dogar is the Chief Whip. His job is to ensure quorum and smooth sailings for the government during legislative business. He got panicky and rushed to Ms Bano to plead that she should not press the head count. She refused to oblige; rather snubbed him down, pretty rudely. Dogar felt seriously hurt with her behaviour and felt forced to angrily react. The opposition benches thoroughly enjoyed public display of in-house bickering on treasury benches.
Yet the government is all set to get the mini-budget passed by the National Assembly by Thursday. The ruling party members and their allies have been summoned to reach Parliament House at 2:00pm on the same day. Prime Minister Imran Khan will be waiting for them in his chambers to preside over the parliamentary party committee meeting. Only after ensuring the presence of winning numbers, the ruling party members and their allies will enter the house to bulldoze passage of the mini-budget.
Still, some parliamentary reporters believe that the government might not be able to collect the winning number. Hoping this, they continue referring to frequent lack of the quorum in the National Assembly, requiring the presence of only 85 members on treasury benches.
Personally, I don’t see any problem for the government on this count, though. Lest you forget, the mini-budget is considered “the Money Bill” in parliamentary jargon. Members have to vote for or against it, strictly according to the dictates of their party leadership. Defying the party leader’s command during voting on the Money Bill could lead to disqualification of the defiant member. Even “deliberate absence” during the process of voting on the same bill will lead to the same consequences.
The opposition parties have consistently been claiming for the past so many months that at least “20 to 25” members from within the ruling party were approaching them with the idea of switching sides. But they never dared to name them. Similarly, a lot of hopes were hyped about some of the allied parties.
Yet the government keeps proving its bulldozing majority for the past so many months. Thanks to the same, a record and huge number of 33 laws were passed during one sitting of the national assembly a few weeks ago.
The ruling party members and their allies made themselves present during the joint sitting, in full strength, at the time of voting. That had happened, in spite of the fact that even “deliberate absence” from the process of voting on those laws would not have led to losing your seat in parliament.
When it comes to voting in favor of the mini-budget, no lacuna or escape route seems available for ruling party members and their allies. They can’t even afford “deliberate absence.”
The hanging sword of disqualification certainly requires heroic courage from ruling party members, toying with the idea of defiance. The type of politicians we are suffering these days, whether sitting on the government or the opposition benches, rather remain completely alien to the notion of courage. Even otherwise, all of us are living in the season of survival by obsequious submission these days.