REVOLUTION ACADEMY

DAWN Opinions and Editorials

16 March 2024

SANITY MUST PREVAIL S# Word Meaning Synonyms

1 Summon ‫احرضدعاتل‬ Call, convene

T he newly-elected National Assembly recently met as a result of

a presidential summon that should have been a matter of
routine, but was anything but. The outgoing president initially
refused to sign the summary put up by the Ministry of Parliamentary
2
3
Plea
Straightaway
‫دروخاتس‬
‫بلکلدیساھ‬
Quest, appeal
Immediately,
promptly
Affairs on the plea that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had 4 Proceedings ‫اسہقب‬ Sessions
not yet decided the matter of the allocation of women’s seats. 5 Vociferous Loud, outspoken
However, the National Assembly secretariat had itself prepared a draft
to summon the house, and once the president realised that even his 6 Stumbling Obstacle, hindrance
refusal would have had no effect, he did what he should have done 7 Lending Financing, loaning
straightaway. This was just another episode in Pakistan’s experience
8 Sabotage Undermine, disrupt
with democracy.
9 Agitation ‫گنترکان‬ Unrest, protest
The president’s attitude was a sign of things to come during the house
10 Ticklish Sensitive, delicate
proceedings. One of the main problems of the new house is to make
the so-called independents behave themselves. If recent proceedings 11 Sanity Soundness
are anything to go by, they will do their best, or worst, to be a 12 Prevail ‫حتف‬-‫اغبلآان‬ Triumph
vociferous, stumbling block in parliament.
13 Vested interests Special interests
The letter written to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), asking the 14
lending agency to link its programme for Pakistan to electoral audit, is 15
just the beginning. The government has to ensure that the opposition
group does not attempt to conduct a foreign policy of its own. The 16
letter to the IMF shows that the group knows how critical the 17
negotiations with the IMF are. It knows that to continue with IMF
programme is vital for the survival of the national economy. And, yet, 18
it has done whatever it could to sabotage the IMF programme for 19
Pakistan. 20
A bigger challenge for the government would be to survive for five
years. As we have seen over the last 15 years, the National Assembly
completes its tenure, but governments do fall, with or without a
change in the ruling party. The brewing politics of agitation by the
opposition group would be a ticklish issue for the government. In the
larger national interest, one would like to hope that sanity would
prevail in parliamentary proceedings sooner rather than later, and
that people across the political divide would be able to prioritise
national interest over personal ego, vested interests, and anything
else.