Parliament’s tenure

ON May 31, the National Assembly ended its tenure to become the third consecutive parliament in the country — and only the second without a dictator at the helm — to complete its five-year term. This was quite a feat considering our chequered political history. However, a sobering thought remains: in all these decades, not one prime minister has completed his or her full term; in the last 10 years alone we have seen four prime ministers take office amid political turmoil. Shortly after the elections in 2013, that saw Nawaz Sharif take charge at the centre, danger loomed as D-Chowk in Islamabad became the venue of an extended siege. The PTI-led dharna demanded not only the removal of the prime minister, but also the dismissal of the government. In early 2016, the capital was once again brought to a standstill by supporters of Mumtaz Qadri who had assassinated Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer. A few months later, the Panama leaks led to yet more calls for Mr Sharif to step down. Eventually, he was disqualified in a controversial Supreme Court decision last year.

Nevertheless, there is a silver lining. Despite the odds stacked against the survival of parliament — in the form of anti-democratic forces and the government’s strained relations with both the military and the judiciary — the legislature did pull through. Indeed, one of its most prominent and positive moves came in the last days of its tenure when it approved the merger of Fata with KP province, removing a tyrannical remnant of our colonial past. The country may have been the victim of multiple coups during its 70 years, but even during military rule, elections, however flawed, were held — an example of the tribute that vice pays to virtue. With each election, the public did get a taste of the power of the vote — hopefully now it has developed an appetite for it. But that will only be ascertained at the ballot box — on July 25, and in subsequent elections — in an atmosphere that is free from intimidation and the manipulation that is often blamed on the security establishment, the judiciary, and on the disunited ranks of the politicians themselves.

True, our most recent parliament must be lauded for weathering many a storm. But it is lamentable that some of those who contributed to the impediments that the National Assembly encountered in its five-year journey were legislators who showed disrespect towards the august house that gave them the authority to represent the people by staying away and holding up the business of lawmaking. Indeed, for democracy to gain strength in Pakistan, legislators must carry out their parliamentary duties seriously, and contribute to a robust debate within the house on how best to empower the people they represent. It is only such perseverance that will keep the perennially lurking extra-constitutional forces at bay.