JOINT session of parliament convened by the government primarily to circumvent a defiant, opposition-dominated Senate on the future of PIA is an occasion that raises a number of legislative and democracy-related issues. While the government is within its rights to pass legislation through a joint session of parliament, is it really setting a desirable, democracy-enhancing precedent? For its part, could the opposition have avoided a joint session had it not played politics with the PIA issue? Surely, the PML-N`s position is not wholly unreasonable and some of the opposition`s concerns could be accommodated in compromise legislation. Moreover, with anti-rape and anti-honour killing laws to be considered by the joint session, among several other pieces of legislation, did the government and the opposition not have a chance to burnish the reputation of parliament? Yet, none of those issues appeared to be on the minds of the country`s elected representatives when the joint session began on Monday evening. Instead, the legal fate of retired Gen Pervez Musharraf was what the PPP and the PTI wanted to discuss.

To be sure, the opposition leaders were on point when they suggested that parliament should have been taken into confidence on the decision to let Mr Musharraf travel abroad. What the former army chief stands accused of is overthrowing the Constitution, which is the original achievement of parliament and a document that parliament alone can modify. Therefore, a treason trial of Mr Musharraf was not simply a case of the government versus an individual, but the very definition of the national interest. Parliament should be the forum where such decisions are announced, not press conferences by the interior minister. Yet, when Leader of the Opposition Khursheed Shah and the PTPs Shah Mehmood Qureshi lambasted the government for its handling of the Musharraf affair, it was fairly clear that the opposition parties were more interested in politics than the state of democracy in the country. Knowing that the government has been embarrassed by the Musharraf departure, the two leading opposition parties in parliament thought it fit to turn the political knife rather than focus on legislative matters.

Predictably, the PML-N proved no better in its response. Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan once again lashed out at the PPP and used a familiar crude rhetoric to attack the previous government for not taking Mr Musharraf to the courts. Yet, the exit of Mr Musharraf is a clear indictment of the PML-N`s brain trust and its strategic decisionmaking: at no stage did it appear that the PML-N leadership was in a position to see a treason trial through to its conclusion. Moreover, in his eagerness to respond to the opposition`s taunts, the interior minister appears to have forgotten the purpose of the joint session legislation. At the height of the PTI sit-in, the interior minister nearly derailed a joint session with his unparliamentary behaviour. It appearshehasnotlearned anylessons.