Senator Sherry Rehman said PTI lost a golden chance of a way out of what she called a blind alley. Speaking in Parliament's joint sitting in Islamabad on Thursday, the Pakistan Peoples Party senator said no politician wants a proclamation of emergency.
She was taking part in the debate on Articles 232 and 234. Article 232 is the constitutional provision for proclaiming an emergency, the step she said no politician wants. Article 234 deals with a province where constitutional government has broken down. Her argument was that a political way out had been on the table, and that it was not taken.
What she said about the provincial leadership
Speaking in that debate, Sherry Rehman said PTI had been left without firm ground by its own provincial leadership. She told the other side that this leadership "has removed place beneath your feet".
She named Assad Qaiser and Amir Doggar, and said they "were of the view to fight against the terrorism". She drew a line between those two and the provincial leadership, which she said "played political game, thinking to become political martyrs".
The remarks do not name the province or the decisions she had in mind. She kept two claims side by side: Assad Qaiser and Amir Doggar wanted to fight terrorism, and the provincial leadership turned the moment into a political game in search of martyrdom.
The draft sent to the prime minister
She said a prepared draft, with amendments, was sent to the prime minister four times. That was the golden chance in her telling: a text existed, it was amended, and it was put before the prime minister again and again.
She did not read out the draft, name the amendments, or describe any reply. The fact she chose to stress was the repetition: four submissions, and then a lost exit from the blind alley.
Where the PPP stands
She then closed the door on a different reading of her party's role. If someone thinks the Peoples Party has agreed to an extra-constitutional measure, she said, that is wrong. "We are makers of constitution and value it."
The debate in the joint sitting was about Articles 232 and 234, powers written into the Constitution. She offered a political judgment rather than a date for what the House would do next: the chance, as she described it, has already been lost, and her party will not own an extra-constitutional path.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Sherry Rehman ne kaha ke PTI ne band gali se nikalne ka sunhera mauqa gawa diya.
Joint sitting mein unhon ne kaha ke koi siyasatdaan emergency ka elaan nahi chahta.
Unhon ne yeh bhi kaha ke draft, tarmeemon ke sath, wazir-e-azam ko char martaba bheja gaya.
Aam aadmi ke liye matlab yeh hai ke yeh Parliament ki debate hai, aur PPP emergency ya aain se bahar qadam ki himayat nahi kar rahi.
