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The past week in Pakistan has been nothing but disgraceful on the part of the government for handling an issue of extreme importance. First, an alleged ‘clerical error’ lead to the most powerful protest in the country in recent times, then the incapability of handling the issue showed major loopholes in the government’s strategies.
On Monday, when the upper house of the assembly met, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani took the incumbent government officials by the horns. While Minister of Interior Ahsan Iqbal was not present to address the Senate, the Minister for State Interior Affairs, Talal Chaudhry was chosen as the representative.
Chairman Senate raised a number of lethal questions, lambasting the government for handling the Faizabad Sit-In and following protests in a shameful manner. Raza Rabbani asked the government to state reasons why they had succumbed to the demands of the protesters, which totally went against the constitution’s sovereignty.
He asked the government why their Law Minister was forced to resign, why the Interior Minister for busy traveling today, and worst of all, why did the Prime Minister of Pakistan leave for a summit in Saudi Arabia when the country was going through a media blackout, he asked if the Saudi summit was more important than the present state of the country?
“The prime minister leaves for abroad on the very same day [the agreement is finalized]. Is the Riyadh summit more important than what has happened in the country?” asked Raza Rabbani.
Furthermore, he added that the parliament, both upper and lower houses, were not taken into confidence before ceding to the demands of the protesters. He asked if the parliament’s acceptance of the notion was not important enough. “You are taking the parliament, which can become your strength, for granted,” Rabbani said, further stating that “This House wants to know why there was a need to call the army?”
Not just the Senate chairman, Justice Shaukat Aziz of the Islamabad High Court also raised valid questions in the intervention of Pakistan Army in an issue which the government could have handled easily. Other members of parliament, such as Farhatullah Babar of the PPP also demanded answers from the lackluster government on its work.
All in all, the past week showed how incapable the Pakistan Muslim League-N government is at handling serious issues, especially without the leadership of Ex-PM Nawaz Sharif, who still held writ over the government, unlike Abbasi and his cortege.
