During the last week the PTI leaders had challenged the opposition to submit its promised no-trust move against the Prime Minister. As the opposition delayed the move PTI ministers and spokesmen made fun of their opponents, maintaining that they would never bring a no confidence motion as they didn’t have the required numbers. The opposition finally submitted the motion on Tuesday. A day later Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry and Energy Minister Hammad Azhar held a press conference to request the National Assembly Speaker to convene the assembly session immediately to end the prevailing political uncertainty.
The National Assembly Speaker has been accused of acting as a PTI activist instead of an independent custodian of the House. Complaints have been made that he violated parliamentary rules, procedures and precedents in the process. This has frequently led to protests and walk outs from the House by the opposition. Presently he is required to decide when to call the Nationasl Assembly session. He doesn’t need any advice from the Information Minister to announce the date for the make-or-break session. A signal from the PM would have been enough for him to announce the date.
Mr Chaudhry has rejected the opposition’s claim of having the support of 185 MNAs. According to him the Prime Minister has the support of more than 179 MNAs and the number might touch 184 with the inclusion of five more legislators of other political parties in the PTI’s ranks. This indicates that the govt plans to indulge in horse trading. This would deprive it of any moral justification to complain if the opposition too follows the practice. The government intends to bar treasury members other than the PTI’s chief whip from attending the session. In case the dissidents are stopped from entering the National Assembly, this would force the opposition to go to court. In case this happens, the political crisis, which has created a sense of uncertainty, would be prolonged further. The way out is to convene the National Assembly session at the earliest and let all who want to take part in the proceedings enter the House irrespective of their party affiliation.
