But what happens when Imran Khan
... aka
Taliban Khan, who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five...
won’t attend parliamentary sessions because he believes that the "National Assembly is the most boring place on earth", and "The house is meaningless"? These were the views he expressed in an interview in last month’s Herald magazine.
When asked about his poor attendance record as documented by the Pakistain Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency, his reply was equally superficial: "Performing in the National Assembly is like winning a poker game on the Titanic. The ship is going down, but you are winning your cards."
The PTI leader has often expressed his admiration for British parliamentary democracy. But perhaps he is unaware that just as in our assembly, sessions in the House of Commons are often dull, and attendance can be sparse.
But if an MP were to say openly that he was bored by the proceedings, he would be attacked in the media -- as well as in his constituency -- and asked to resign if he couldn’t do his job. MPs in Britannia, in addition to attending parliamentary sessions, are required to meet voters in their constituencies who have problems relating to government departments.
If a student doesn’t go to school or college, he is rusticated unless he has a very good reason for his absence. And if an employee doesn’t go to work, he is sacked. Our assemblies must be the only institutions that go on paying members even if they don’t turn up for months.