While the opposition parties in Pakistan’s parliament make a show of themselves in front of the world with their hyprocritcal protests, have they managed to address the issue of which one of their lot will take be the official opposition leader? Nothing I believe is stopping them electing from their numbers a person to fill that slot, so why have they not done that so far?
No unity. Everybody wants to be ahead of everybody if parliament dissolves so they can be the next pm.
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*Originally posted by CM: *
No unity. Everybody wants to be ahead of everybody if parliament dissolves so they can be the next pm.
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Yes very true. The opposition parties who are crying so loudly about democracy at the moment, do know very well that a basic principle of parliamentary democracy is to elect an official opposition leader, which is not a hard task. This is not in any way being stopped by the government of the day or by President Musharraf so why can they not show the people by demonstrating the basic principles of parliamentary democracy and elect an opposition leader? Otherwise they are just being hypocritcal about wanting a parliamentary democracy?
True Dat. They just waiting for their slice of the cake.
The opposition has not been this divided since the 1970's after all. But the givernment is playing dirty, they don't want the PPP to get the Opposition Leader post, because that would give them a role on the National Security Council. And as Musharraf said recently, he'd prefer the MMA and probably someone a bit power hungry like Fazlur Rehman as Opposition Leader. Unfortunately for him the PPP did bag the largest number of votes and if it wasn't for the "patriotic defections" the PPP would still very much be the largest party after the "Lota League".
On the MMA side, people like Qazi Hussain and Maulana Noorani are thinking practical, give the opposition leader post to the PPP and they get deputy LEader, while in the Senate they get leader and the PPP gets deputy leader. Unfortunately the government is playing dirty and working very hard on the MMA and PPP to split them again.
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Originally posted by Zakk:
The opposition has not been this divided since the 1970's after all. But the government is playing dirty....
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With great respect Zakk, the first part of your sentance is factual, but the second part is absolute rubbish. Nothing is stopping the opposition parties from agreeing amongst themselves who should be the official opposition leader - it is a simple parliamentary formality that they could have carried out many months ago. Tell us straight is there any law or ordinance passed by this government or the last Musharraf government which has altered the constitutional procedure to elect an opposition leader?
Does it not seem hypocritical to you that this opposition can supposedly unite to make a daily mockery of parliament in front of the world, yet cannot demonstrate to the Pakistani people (at least) how they can follow simple parliamentary traditions and elect an official opposition leader?
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*Originally posted by CM: *
No unity. Everybody wants to be ahead of everybody if parliament dissolves so they can be the next pm.
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The only quality that the opposition ( MMA & PPP) has shown is that they can organize juloos and jalsa. As for constructive work they don't have any idea nor a desire. They are using the 'Awaam' as a cond--.
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*Originally posted by tshombe39: *
The only quality that the opposition ( MMA & PPP) has shown is that they can organize juloos and jalsa. As for constructive work they don't have any idea nor a desire. They are using the 'Awaam' as a cond--.
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Very true. Can any of these so-called champions of democracy show us any legal or procedural hurdle which stops them from electing an official opposition leader from within their ranks? If they were truly fighting a "united" battle for democracy then they could quite easily show the Pakistani people that they believe in parliamentary democracy by choosing an opposition leader. So what is stopping these hypocrties?
I'd be the last person to say Politicians aren't opportunists, but the only thing this Opposition agrees on is the LFO, to expect them to rally behind each other papers around the deep differences between groups like the PPP and MMA. In any case Musharraf should have re negotiated the LFO with the Opposition in the beginning. The responsibility rested on the government to show some flexibility.
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*Originally posted by Zakk: *
I'd be the last person to say Politicians aren't opportunists, but the only thing this Opposition agrees on is the LFO, to expect them to rally behind each other papers around the deep differences between groups like the PPP and MMA. In any case Musharraf should have re negotiated the LFO with the Opposition in the beginning. The responsibility rested on the government to show some flexibility.
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Zakk we're not talking about the LFO, but about the opposition parties living up to the principles of parliamentary democracy that they are so shouting about these days. Having an offical opposition leader is a basic necessity of a parliamentary democracy, and this is not barred by any legal or consititutional act by this or the Musharraf government. These people want to assert the supremacy of parliament, then fine, they should elect an official opposition leader from among their numbers. Then they should move to negotiate with all the parliamentary parties to set up the parliamentary committees in both houses which are also an essential function of parliamentary democracy - this is not barred by the government or President Musharraf. These parties have failed on every count to lead by example and show the people of Pakistan the basic virtues of parliamentary democracy.
MMA makes moves to get the opposition leaders slot:-
MMA move for Fazl as Opp leader](http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/may-2003/6/main/top5.asp)
And get’s ready to accept Musharraf as President and COAS at the same time:-
MMA shows flexibility in LFO talks](Daily Jang: Urdu News - Latest Breaking News update Pakistan - jang.com.pk)
Don’t you just love the “principled” Pakistani politicians? 