It is a move which has far reaching implications for the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and change Pakistan’s political landcape. The party’s major ruling coalition partner, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the opposition Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) leaders met at Islamabad on Wednesday. Beyond this meeting, the PPP, PTI and other opposition leaders have agreed to maintain contact and cooperate on legislative matters in Parliament in the coming days.
The agreement was reached when PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Allama Raja Nasir Abbas at the Parliament House in the NA opposition leader’s chamber, PPP said in a post on X.
PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, Tehreek-i-Tahaffuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) Secretary General Asad Qaiser, Vice Chairman Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar and PTI’s Aamir Dogar were also present at the meeting. PPP leaders Raja Pervez Ashraf, Sherry Rehman, Naveed Qamar and Nadeem Afzal Chan accompanied Bilawal.
The coming together of various opposition leaders and the PPP has brought out its differences with PML-N out into open. The PPP has already made its intentions clear that it will not allow the PML-N to bring any legislative matters in Parliament from now onwards. The trigger for sharpening of these differences were the recent elections in Pakistan Occupied Jammu Kashmir (POJK). The PPP led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari repeatedly alleged during different phases of these elections that they were rigged.
These differences have now come out into the open with PPP joining ranks with the opposition in the National Assembly. It needs to be stated here that the PML-N does not have a majority in the House and depends on the PPP support for running it on day to day basis. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of the PML-N, without the support of PPP, cannot get any legislative business passed in either the National Assembly or the Senate (Upper House).
PPP flexes muscles in National Assembly
The effect of the PPP opposing the government was visible on Wednesday as the House could not transact any business. A day earlier, on Tuesday, the PPP made its intentions clear when it compeled the government to all legislative agenda for the day, which included 21 bills, according to a report in Dawn.
Later, NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq opened the floor for MNAs to speak on various issues. A PPP leader said that the situation would remain the same in the NA throughout the session, with no legislative business taking place unless the government addressed his party’s grievances.
The NA session, which usually starts at 11 AM, could begin only at 2:15 PM, over three hours behind schedule and was adjourned abruptly for a day. This was done apparently to give the government time to pacify the PPP through back-channel negotiations.
In the National Assembly, a two-thirds majority is mandatory for the passage of any constitutional amendment. While the PML-N does not have the two-thirds majority, the PPP has refused to support any legislation unless its demands are met first.
The NA agenda for Tuesday had 62 items, including 21 bills, but the PPP did not allow the government to even table the reports of standing committees mentioned in the agenda. When NA Speaker Sadiq started proceedings and asked a lawmaker to table a committee report, PPP chief whip in the House Syed Naveed Qamar rushed to the Speaker’s dais and asked him not to proceed with any legislative business.
The attendance of PPP members was quite thin, sending a message to the government that the party would not support any constitutional amendment. The PPP members said that the amendment was meant to undermine fundamental rights of the people and was thus against the Constitution.
A PPP leader said the party was annoyed with the government over alleged rigging in the recent POJK elections. The government has also not complied with an agreement in Punjab, non-implementation of a written agreement, the issue of new provinces and new legislation.
Analysts said that even if the PPP does not formally exit the coalition government at the Centre, it could give the government a tough time to show its displeasure over the outcome of the POJK elections.
Violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa worries MNAs
Leader of the Opposition in the NA Mehmood Khan Achakzai, while speaking on a point of order, urged the Speaker to hold a threadbare debate on terrorism in the House, which could continue for two to three days. “Here members are highlighting petty problems of their own constituencies, but the main problem is increasing terrorism in the country as about 40 to 50 people, including innocent citizens and law enforcement personnel, are killed every day,” he said.
“Give two or three days specifically to the matter so that all members can speak on terrorism. Maybe we will find the solution.”
Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) MNA Sahibzada Sibghat Ullah said terrorism had risen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and demanded that the National Action Plan be revisited. He said the common people had taken up arms against terrorists in his constituency. “But it is the responsibility of the state and not the people to fight against terrorists,” he added.
He also highlighted some other problems faced by the people of KP and said farmers had been deprived of fertilisers, after which a food crisis could also surface there.
JUI-F leader Abdul Ghafoor Haidri said people wanted peace and equal distribution of resources among provinces. He said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was giving no benefit to Pakistan, while the Chinese city of Urumqi, bordering Pakistan, had progressed significantly.
MNA Khushal Khan Kakar recalled a recent incident of terrorism in which 35 police personnel were killed and said: “We have to conduct a debate on this.” He also mentioned the blocking of 600,000 identity cards of Pashtoons.
Sher Afzal Marwat talks about 28th Amendment
PTI leader Sher Afzal Marwat asked what the role of the NA would be if the controversial 28th Constitutional Amendement was presented in the House. Other issues raised by MNAs included floods and their devastation, the poor condition of national highways and alleged slackness of the National Highway Authority (NHA). Problems related to electricity and gas supplies, 3G and 4G internet services in remote areas of the country, and issues concerning the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas also figured during the discussions.
Responding to the MNAs’ concerns, Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry said the government was ready to hold a detailed debate in parliament on terrorism, law and order, and implementation of the National Action Plan. He said the government was prepared to discuss all 14 points of the NAP without a blame game or political point-scoring.
He regretted that opposition members had not participated in various security-related meetings, including in-camera briefings held under the chairmanship of the Speaker. He said the war against terrorism could not be won unless political forces stood united behind the security forces with a common narrative.
Tallal Chaudhry said Afghan nationals had obtained Pakistani identity cards and, in some cases, had also been included in family trees through different means. Referring to Pakistani passports illegally obtained by Afghan nationals, he said around 5,000 such passports had been surrendered in Saudi Arabia alone.
Acute shortage of medicines, common drugs
MNA Sharmila Faruqi raised the serious issue of the shortage and non-availability of essential and life-saving medicines, calling for urgent intervention by the Federal government. “Price-revision cases of 105 hardship-category medicines remained pending for more than two years despite recommendations by DRAP’s Drug Pricing Committee. As a result, these medicines could not be marketed,” she said.
Among the medicines reported to be in short supply are oral morphine, strepto-kinase injections, Cisplatin, Carboplatin, Doxorubicin, paediatric Digoxin liquid, Pilocarpine eye drops, yellow fever vaccine and certain immuno-globulin products. Due to stoppage of imports from India for the past over one year, there is an acute shortage of essential drugs all over Pakistan.
Earlier, Indian drugs used to enter Pakistan markets from West Asian nations like the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This too has stopped and the prices of all medicines have skyrocketed.
She noted that the Cabinet Committee on Drug Pricing approved prices for 52 newly registered life-saving medicines on July 24, but final approval and notification must be expedited to ensure their availability to patients.
PPP’s Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig raised the issue of loadshedding in Karachi by K-Electric, and proposed a joint meeting involving the Federal Power Minister, Karachi-based MNAs and KE’s top management.
UAE’s ‘rude behaviour’ towards Pakistanis
Several MNAs, including PTI leader Asad Qaisar, said the behaviour of the UAE had turned rude/hostile towards Pakistanis since the start of the US-Iran war and that hundreds of Pakistanis have been deported. Though deportations have now reduced but this has impacted the average Pakistanis hard as they used to work in the UAE and send valuable remittances home.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, responding to the issue, tried to explain the reasons for their deportation, saying: “They (deported Pakistanis) had supported a specific country (read Iran) during the war.” The UAE had been at the receiving end and spent a lot of time blocking Iranian missiles and drones, with significant damages to its infrastructure.
