Sicks are those who curse Parliament, which is the custodian of people’s rights. More sickening it is when the abuser himself is a parliamentarian. Period.
What would you, however, say of such Parliament, that passes the 12th Amendment that grants immunity to a dictator’s actions and awards him with constitutional legitimacy? One would not stop short of cursing the moment when that Parliament was elected to do such a shameful act.
Parliament represents public’s aspirations. What is to say of one such parliament where its leader, yes, I am talking about the prime minister, has turned up not more than 10 times in his four-year tenure? What is the level of that parliament where the leader of the third largest party - Imran Khan - does not like to come to? Parliament is not just the name of a building, chairs, desks, and microphones. Its members, its business and its performance make it a supreme institution in the eye of the public and the constitution. One would be glad to hear to know about the number of times when this parliament’s proceedings went smoothly with a full quorum. When Parliament has always been struggling to maintain its quorum, it speaks volume of its performance.
We are never tired of calling – Parliament is supreme.
Parliament’s supremacy and honour are not granted. Parliamentarians need to earn it for the house if they want to condemn those who call parliament a jinxed place. The person who shamed a female parliamentarian colleague in the house because of her physical appearance now sits as the foreign minister. Yes, the very “soft-spoken” Khawaja Asif is being mentioned here. The remarks of another treasury parliamentarian about his opposition colleague that his sister is often seen in someone bedroom will not fade anytime soon. You are right, the spat between Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Murad Saeed and Pakistan Muslim League’s Khurram Latif will not add to shining examples of Parliament.
Still, spats, brawls, and rowdy sessions are part of Parliament the world over. Those parliaments, however, also have glaring examples of following stricter accountability rules, and showing no compromise on the rule of law. In those Parliaments, a scandal involving the distant relative of a sitting Parliamentarian forces the parliamentarian in question to quit the house and prove their innocence. Let us learn something from the South Korean parliament, which impeached Park Geun-hye, the former president, who has been jailed over a high profile corruption scandal that has already seen her ousted from office and prompted early elections. She has been jailed for on charges of bribery, abuse of authority, coercion and leaking government secrets. Here, our Parliament never questioned its on-leave finance minister Ishaq Dar, who is wanted for billion rupees scams. Previous prime minister Nawaz Sharif faced zero resistance from Parliament when he and his family were named in the Panama case. Moreover, this Parliament will never feel pride in hosting members like Jamshed Dasti, Abid Sher Ali, MQM’s members now facing charges of murder, extortion and what not, retired Captain Safdar, Imran Khan, Sheikh Rasheed and so on.
On Thursday, the National Assembly condemned Imran Khan and Sheikh Rasheed for cursing Parliament at a public rally in Lahore.
A good step indeed, but a better step would be to go further from condemning their colleagues and reflecting Parliament's past and present actions for a better future.
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