THE opposition has once again slammed the government over its preoccupation with ruling by ordinances. In the latest instance, the opposition members were up in arms in protest when four ordinances, promulgated by President Arif Alvi, came before the Senate on Tuesday. The controversial GIDC ordinance was not among them, but the omission did little to contain the opposition members. The treasury was severely castigated for bypassing parliament, the protest being backed by a solid argument which termed the bunch of presidential ordinances as unconstitutional. The members duly referred to Article 89 of the Constitution which says the president may promulgate an ordinance, except when the Senate or National Assembly are in session. The Article further says the ordinance shall stand repealed at the expiration of 120 days from its promulgation or, “if before the expiration of that period a resolution disapproving it is passed by the Assembly, upon the passing of that resolution”. The treasury did try to counter this latest attack in the Senate by summoning the old defence. But whereas the point about the opposition’s non-cooperation did make sense, it couldn’t quite dispel the impression that the PTI government was from the outset determined not to ‘unnecessarily’ involve the opposition lawmakers in legislation.

Governments in the past, too, were blamed for resorting to the presidential ordinance. The fundamental question in the present case, however, stems from the ruling party’s obvious contempt for the legislators who occupy the opposition benches. This message is most candidly manifest in the repeated remarks of Prime Minister Imran Khan about the ‘corrupt’ parties and politicians who, regardless of the likes and dislikes of the sitting government, have quite a heavy presence in parliament today. In the Senate in particular, the numbers prevent the PTI government from winning easy passage for any bill it might want to introduce. Hence the reliance on presidential ordinances despite that it has been generally debunked as a dubious means to run the business. The choice of the route is, sadly, hardly surprising after Mr Khan had declared as early as December 2018 — barely a few months into power — that he planned to legislate by ordinance. Entering into a ‘settlement’ with the opposition meant that corruption cases against their leaders should be closed — an option the prime minister ‘would never go for’. A return to the regular route of legislation through parliament will require a basic change in the PM’s position.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2019