Islamabad, January 24, 2022: On a point of order in the Senate, Parliamentary leader of the PPPP Sherry Rehman opened the opposition debate by demanding an explanation from the Treasury on how a sitting Prime Minister says he will decide who is Leader of Opposition or who is not. This is not his decision, nor is it his prerogative. Members of parliament are elected by the people of Pakistan, who are sovereign according to the Constitution of Pakistan. It is the sovereign right of the people of Pakistan to elect their representatives, not his own prerogative as a manifestation of his own hubris and bizarre conceptualisation of the political and constitutional reality of the country.
“It is his high time he understood that his time in PM House is limited now, given his government’s disastrous performance on every count. His constant resort to blaming either the past, or external circumstances or anyone he can think of except his own spectacularly incompetent government, has now become a dark joke for the people of Pakistan who don’t know where to turn in their unprecedented misery and deprivation at the crisis after crisis his government has unleashed on the country, whether it be the destruction of Pakistan’s economy, its power sector, its once-booming self sufficient agriculture sector. Instead of providing solutions he is now openly threatening both the opposition and a large majority who elected the opposition. He is making a laughing stock of Pakistan by threatening his own country, but also sending a message to his selectors who are now clearly fed up with this amateur show.
Sherry Rehman also said that “On the one hand we have calls for a presidential system which has broken Pakistan in two, and on the other, we have the bizarre and unedifying spectacle of a prime minister threatening an entire nation and state that he will cause havoc if he is removed. We condemn such a pharaonic, self-absorbed distortion of the constitution and peoples rights. The government is sinking like a leaky ship, and instead of salvaging their own dignity the PM is lashing out at everyone he can. Putting the stability and security of the country in the dock for ones own personal whims and fantasies of power is both irresponsible but also extremely dangerous. Such an unstable person should not be holding the reins of the country.
“Too much is at stake given Pakistan’s national security challenges and economic distress. You can’t have rule by tantrum. Pakistan will not be sacrificed to anyone’s ego. We will not let that happen” she concluded.