PRESIDENT Asif Zardari, addressing Monday’s joint session of parliament to mark the start of a new parliamentary year, ticked off a standard list of all the things one expected to hear on the occasion. There was the usual concern about health and education, the welfare of Pakistan’s young population, and growing incidents of terrorism. He also dutifully extolled the government’s economic successes. There was the standard lip service to good governance, strengthening democracy, restoring public confidence and establishing the rule of law that is expected in all parliamentary speeches. The president took care to thank Pakistan’s foreign partners for their support and reaffirmed Islamabad’s diplomatic commitments, and also did not forget to give due consideration to CPEC and its centrality to Pakistan’s interests. All in all, the speech was as usual as they come. To his credit, Mr Zardari also offered some subtle and not-so-subtle criticism of the government’s shortcomings and placed on record the PPP’s disagreement with the six new canals planned on the Indus, urging the rulers to revisit policies that were placing a strain on the federation and come up with “viable, sustainable solutions”.

The speech may not be remembered so much for its substance as for the accompanying spectacle. The opposition, too, stayed true to custom, disrupting the proceedings with rowdy catcalls and sloganeering against ruling parties and in favour of jailed former PM Imran Khan. So raucous was the protest that it was often difficult to make sense of Mr Zardari’s words. One was struck by how closely the image of the president sombrely reciting Pakistan’s challenges while chaos unfolded around him resembled the state of the wider country. It has often seemed as if all of our present challenges have been eclipsed by a political dispute that has taken up the entirety of the nation’s attention. The president seemed cognisant of this reality. “Think of the unity and consensus our country so desperately needs,” he urged the elected representatives present. “Democracy needs give and take, and what better place to work on collective goals than this parliament?” he asked. He may as well have been speaking to the walls: at that moment, our elected representatives were too busy hurling invectives at each other. Good speeches alone cannot make things better. The country needs more than words; it also needs commitment and action.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2025