A tale of two bills

Indicative of further polarisation

THE debate between the government and the opposition over Panama-gate is now about to start in both the houses of parliament. With the cabinet “Okaying” the Enquiry Commission Bill, the government is set to launch the proposed law in the National Assembly where it enjoys a majority. The opposition on the other hand is to present its bill that spells out a judicial commission of enquiry with powers to access all related documents and seek authorisation from the concerned parties to call for required documents from abroad. The debate in the two houses will be covered by the media with great interest. This would provide another opportunity to an articulate opposition to target the Sharif family.

With the PML-N winning two by-elections in Punjab on Wednesday, there would be a tendency among the party hawks to forget that that the margin between the wining PML-N candidates and the losing PTI ones was by no means phenomenal in Jhelum and was insignificant in Vehari. Instead of demoralising the PTI this could strengthen the belief in the party that with more propaganda against the PML-N, it is possible to cover the gap by the general elections.

Many had expected that after his return from London, Nawaz Sharif would call a meeting of the 12 member Parliamentary Committee on ToRs with an aim to reduce the tension between the government and opposition. He was presumably dissuaded from taking the course by the PML-N hawks. The lack of initiative by the prime minister led to the hardening of opposition’s stance. Imran Khan decided to organise rallies, the latest to take place on Saturday. While the opposition’s bill in the Senate is being jointly sponsored by the PPP, PTI, PML-Q and BNP (A), the PPP and PML-Q would reportedly have a symbolic representation at the rally also. Instead of getting the Enquiry Commission Bill passed by steamrollering the opposition, the prime minister would do well to encourage the two sides to come up with a jointly agreed bill.