Daily Times

Much controversy has been generated about Imran Khan’s damning the Parliament comments. His diatribe seemed to have touched the raw nerves of virtually all his opponents to force them into a single file and unleash a virulent counter-assault.

But, has the Parliament really delivered on its agenda and does it actually command the respect that it is alleged Khan has denied it?

Imran Khan has always taken a position against the status-quo, and one of his principal political objectives has been to make the system more transparent and accountable. Whether he has been able to do so and, if yes, to what extent, is up to the pundits to evaluate. But he definitely has generated a fair amount of fear among the proponents of the status-quo who would not let an opportunity slip by to castigate him for his failings, both real and imaginary.

However, there is one reality that has to be conceded: Khan has changed the political dynamics in the country irremediably and, in an overall perspective, for the better.

Parliament is no hollow structure. It is neither a ghost town. It is inhabited by living people who are elected to enact legislation that would improve the functioning of the state, provide justice and bring relief to their electorates.

Nearing completion of its five-year tenure, there is virtually nothing that could be cited by way of credible achievements of the incumbent Parliament to have elevated its stature. On the contrary, enactment of a recent person-specific amendment contributed immeasurably to damaging its credentials, this being the one that allowed a disqualified individual to be rendered eligible to head a political party.

Without showing strong resolve for undoing the sordidness of the past and unfurling the advent of a new narrative and a vibrant mechanism free of the clutches of godfathers and their attendant mafias — it would be a gross travesty if the Parliament and its clownish actors would demand respect for it. Let’s see someone from within the Parliament demonstrate courage and speak the truth. It is then that you would begin to command respect, and you won’t have to beg for it like you are doing now

Unheard of anywhere in the annals of democratic dispensations, such legislation has bloodied the nose of the Parliament and would shame anyone with even the remotest pretensions to being democratic. Most probably, those who reside within the precincts of the Parliament don’t belong to that tribe of stalwarts. The question that begs an answer is why did the Parliament degrade itself in such remorseless manner, and how can its apologists go around with begging bowls asking for it to be accorded respect?

What is there that one would count as a feather in the cap of this Parliament to earn it respect? Has there been any people-specific enactment that would actually improve their lot? Has there been any legislation regarding increasing allocations for the education, health and the social sectors? Has there been any initiative by way of improving the working of the state institutions, freeing them from the tentacles of the executive and making them transparent, effective and accountable? Has this Parliament unfurled any resolve to cleanse the country of the menace of corruption that has eaten away its resources and denuded it down to bare essentials, struggling hard to survive?

The contrarian perception appears more relevant. This Parliament has taken immense pains in further perpetuating the hold of a few over the teeming millions who struggle to survive the rigours of life. It has strengthened the stranglehold of the traditional mafias, making them more powerful and cruel in sucking the blood of the poor and the needy to erect their corrupt family fiefdoms, thus hollowing the structure they call the state. It has legitimised corruption by way of allowing space to the proven transgressors to continue heading political parties. In fact, by extension, it has held in contempt the verdict of the apex court in the matter of disqualifying one such person from holding office.

It has stayed quiet in a sequence of sordid stories of sex-related scandals in the city of Bulleh Shah, and elsewhere in the country, and the rape, murder and dumping of the daughters of the nation. It has maintained complicit silence in allowing political expediencies to hold sway and rubbishing the cause of justice.

It has been unmoved by the venomous attacks hurled at the institutions in broad daylight. It has failed to defend the sovereignty of the state that its members have sworn to upholding. It has faltered in ensuring implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) which is integral to the survival of the state.

It has earned itself no respect not by way of the walls within which it holds its sessions, but by way of the quality and character of people who sit inside in judgment on the entire populace and the institutional edifice of the state. It presents an odious face splashed with the blood of the weak, the innocent and the forsaken. Its sanctimonious sermons further amplify the pain the whole nation is afflicted with.

It is in such moments that I am reminded of the words of Oliver Cromwell:

“Ye have no more religion than my horse. Gold is your God. Which of you have not bartered your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth (read ‘state’)?”

And he went on to say:

“Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation. You were deputed here by the people to get grievances redressed, are yourselves become the greatest grievance”.

Notwithstanding his specific words, respect is not commanded by hollering on the floor of the Parliament that Imran Khan is a monster, or by passing a resolution censuring him for damning the institution. Respect will also not be won by indulging in painful semantics and hyperbole. Simultaneously, respect will not be secured by hiding your odious omissions and commissions in violation of the principal responsibilities that you are supposed to shoulder within the four walls of the Parliament, and outside.

Respect will also not be commanded by blaming other institutions for the utter mess this Parliament has been reduced to becoming. It is of its own making entirely and only it can undo it by effectively divorcing a performance replete with self-serving compromises. People sitting within its walls have to look beyond their personal interests, and those of their masters. They have to attend to the interests of the state and take urgent steps for remodelling the way this country has been governed so far.

Without showing a strong resolve for undoing the sordidness of the past and unfurling the advent of a new narrative and a vibrant mechanism free of the clutches of godfathers and their attendant mafias, it would be a gross travesty if the Parliament and its clownish actors would demand respect for it.

Let’s see someone from within the Parliament demonstrate courage and speak the truth. It is then that you would begin to command respect, and you won’t have to beg for it like you are doing now.

The writer is a political and security strategist, and heads the Regional Peace Institute — an Islamabad-based think tank. Email: raoofhasan@hotmail.com. Twitter: @RaoofHasan

Published in Daily Times, January 23^rd 2018.