Joining hands to deliver

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The government-opposition mudfest continues as usual. PTI supporters gathered outside Avenfield apartments asking for Nawaz Sharif’s head, law or no law. Maulana Fazlur Rehman told a Peshawar rally that PM Imran Khan has turned Pakistan into another Peshawar BRT, a masterpiece of PTI’s inefficiency.

There is no doubt that both the PPP and PML-N want the PM out. In a London press conference on Sunday PML-N Sec Gen Ahsan Iqbal wanted a jointly agreed interim setup for two months with an aim to make preparations for mid-term elections. The PTI has strongly opposed the idea.

Differences apart, there are important tasks that need to be jointly undertaken by the government and opposition to sustain the system, the currently most important one being making the Election Commission functional by appointing the Chief Election Commissioner and two members of the Election Commission. While sending back the dispute to the Parliament, the IHC had given it till December 16 to fill the three posts. Unless the Parliament performs its job, there would be a constitutional crisis over the issue. What is more, this would raise questions in the common man’s mind about the politician’s ability to deliver. The way the government and opposition have taken political issues to the courts, thus ceding their turf, has not raised the image of the mainstream parties.

To sort out the important issue there has to an understanding between the treasury benches and the opposition. As things stand despite being in session since December 4, the NA has not been able to transact most of its business due to protests and walkouts which have added to acrimony. What the opposition demands is the presence of its detained leaders to participate in the NA proceedings for which they were elected. With the two PPP MNAs currently in hospitals, it is a matter of issuing production orders for only three PML-N MNAs. Defence Minister Pervez Khattak hopes that the issue of the appointment of CEC and two members of the EC would be finalised by Wednesday. His task would become easier if he could get not only the production orders for the three but also their implementation.