The Opposition in the National Assembly had vowed not to let the budget pass. That presumed some sort of effort when the government put it to the vote. On Friday, when the long process of the passage of Demands for Grants began, the Opposition leadership itself was not to be found in the House band as a result perhaps, the MNAs themselves knocked off, and didn’t attend. As it was Friday, it seems likelier than not that the members had sloped off to their constituencies for the weekend, rather than attend to their duties in the House.
If there was any hope that the breakdown of the PDM might lead the individual party leaders to take more of an interest in resisting the passage of the Budget, they were dashed by the absence of PML(N) President and Leader of the Opposition, Shehbaz Sharif, and PPP Co-Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who were nowhere to be seen, presumably joining in the rush for the constituency.
That was a rush the treasury members nobly resisted, with virtually full attendance, an indication that the Government’s whips had done their job properly. Not only did they ensure that the numbers were there to pass the demands that came up that day, but that any opposition attempt to point out a lack of quorum was forestalled. One effect of the Opposition’s leisurely attitude was the defeat without debate of all cut motions. Not all cut notions are debated, but some are, allowing the Opposition to focus on a particular department. It may be that the opposition will take up cut notions in the coming week, when the demands do come up, but it seems that the opposition has supinely given up the chance to hammer home its opposition to the government’s policy. Cut motions have a greater importance in that the policy of the government in that field is to be discussed. For example, a cut motion on the Foreign Affairs budget is not restricted merely to talking about the money allocated under that head, but allows a debate of the foreign policy the government pursues.
With an opposition so much divided, coordination is not easy. The Pakistan Democratic Movement came into being because it was felt that a structure was needed for this. The Opposition will have to do much better if it hopes to give the government a tough time, let alone topple it.
