LAHORE  -   The PML-N’s boycott of the Punjab Assembly budget session will indeed make the treasury job easy to get the budget approved.

What the opposition-treasury did on budget day, has not been seen in the history of the assembly before although the rival side in the past has been boycotting the session but not indefinitely and closing the door of negotiations while taking a strict stance. The current boycott protest is primarily by the PML-N and not by the whole opposition wherein the PPP and others also figure although with thin number that is not beyond 10.

The PML-N protest had germinated purely from a political matter that became relevant to the provincial budget when members of this party protested arrest of their party president Shehbaz Sharif by the NAB and later denial of immediate session of the assembly on their requisition and subsequent permission to hold protest assembly session outside the chamber.

The opposition wanted to speak on this issue before the finance minister could get the floor to present the budget but the speaker refused them permission that resulted in emergence of a highly disorderly situation that carried proximity of a battlefield wherein all limits were crossed to insult and ditch each other, besides damaging equipment in the house. Speaker Ch Pervez Elahi, who was the main target of the PML-N protest, came under fire from the rival members in words and action. The secretary assembly had to face the unruly MPAs who was pushed deep into the speaker’s dais by the protesting members.

Taking serious notice of the matter, the speaker put restriction on six members of the PML-N who in his wisdom, were found involved in creating the disturbance, from attending the post-budget session. The PML-N in a tit-for-tat move also announced to boycott the session which its members did on Friday when budget was debated on the first day. Leader of the Opposition Hamza Shehbaz Sharif has taken a hard stance against the speaker. Hamza in political history owes much to Chaudhrys of Gujrat. Hamza, who was left alone following ‘exile’ of the Sharifs to Saudi Arabia during Musharraf era, is not only degrading Speaker Ch Pervez Elahi but also constantly pursuing Bank of Punjab case to be reopened against him and the NICL scam against his son in his appearances before media.

After production of Shehbaz Sharif and his hard hitting address in the National Assembly on October 17, the demand of PML-N MPAs has been largely satisfied. And now their focus is on the six members who have been made outcast for the current session. So far, neither the speaker is moved to take back his decision nor the PML-N to end the boycott when everyone is under oath to act in the best interest of the province and the people rising above personal liking and disliking.

The ongoing budget debate session will not be affected by law if the PML-N persists with the protest boycott. Neither the rule of business nor any other law puts a question mark on proceedings of the session if the members on one side are not in attendance. Rather the situation, in observers’ view, will make the job of the treasury easy to get the budget passed. However, the budget will miss the cut motions and debate of the questionable fiscal policies of the government which are mostly highlighted by the opposition. Given the situation, this all can be brought up by the PPP members but that too, will amount to assuming charge of the main opposition party which has strength of over 160 members in the house. Hence it may be infra dig to the main party on the opposition side.

On the other hand, the government, even after approval of the budget, will miss due role which a strong opposition usually plays in budget debate and provides it with a convincing argument in support of the budget and its social sector programmes and outlay for them.

In the final count of the situation, as the observers, the loss is not of the politicians but of the masses who vote the members to have the best for them through their representation in the house. And the budget is one of the pivotal aspects of it.

Against this strict action of the speaker, one can recall the past when during its own rule, the PML-N had wanted the PTI to debate issues on the floor of the house instead of the street. The observers, as such, want both sides to act but in the best interest of the province and the people, without turning their ties into personal hostility which knows no end.