FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

Be it the political power or the electric power, its pilferage has acquired the proportions of a national habit. It is a different matter, however, that while those who steal political power get scot-free---thanks to the doctrine of necessity --- the thieves of electricity get penalised.
The Wapda minister informed the National Assembly on Thursday that during 2004-05, 722,098 people were penalised for stealing electricity, as the overall transmission and distribution losses for the period were 23.4 percent. But irony is that information as newsy as the above had failed to attract the members, each of whom is paid Rs 3,500 per day.
On Thursday too, the House was called to order 25 minutes behind schedule and even then it did not have the quorum and the proceedings were suspended for another half an hour.
At the resumed proceedings Speaker Amir Hussain expressed annoyance over pointation of lack of quorum by Nawab Yusuf Talpur, which the latter did not like. It was my right to point out if the House did not have the quorum, the PPPP member said, telling the speaker that it is the responsibility to ensure that the government acts to complete the quorum. Amir Hussain did not like Talpur's straight talk.
"You are not supposed to dictate me. Sit down"; Amir Hussain was shouting. That precipitated the first walkout of the day. "The way you are humiliating us... we are walking out". As he led his party out of the House. Other opposition parties also joined him.
After the first walkout the chair was a little subdued and consequently the proceedings were a little tension-free. Of course, there was one more walkout by the opposition when Amir Hussain did not allow PML-N's firebrand Tehmina Daultana to speak on a point of order.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz arrived in the House and as usual members from the treasury benches made a beeline to his desk. And, also as usual he walked over to the opposition leaders and held a fairly lengthy tête-à-tête with Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Liaquat Baloch.
Perhaps, encouraged by this bonhomie as it tended to permeate the House the MMA's Qari Gul Rehman, standing on a point of order, offered a bundle of thanks to the prime minister for ordering the supply of Sui gas to his area in Mansehra district. That did not sit well with PML-N's Kishen Bheel, who shouted "Darbari Mulla" but his mike was switched off.
As soon as the House was adjourned Kishen Bheel rushed at Qari Gul Rehman and threw a few hands at him. But other members intervened and separated them.
The proceedings lasted only two hours and were generally frivolous, except for an interesting speech made by Chaudhry Nisar Ali and that too on a point of order. Incessant hike in oil prices is a 'fraud' on the nation but the government would not discuss it on the floor of the Parliament, he said. His adjournment motion on this has not been taken up, he complained, adding that if we cannot take up this issue in the Parliament then why to sit here."
Chaudhry Nisar, the oil minister in the Nawaz Sharif cabinet, said between December 1999 and June 2003 Pakistan was getting free-of-cost oil but the oil prices were raised 33 times on the pretext that on the international market the prices had gone up. Liaquat Baloch and PPPP's Raja Pervaiz Ashraf lent him support but Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan opposed it, saying, "It is nothing but an exercise in point scoring."
However, Oil Minister Amanullah Jadoon offered the government's perspective. "The government is not committing any fraud. As for the Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) the issue is before the Senate."
Another issue that triggered some discussion was Maulana Muhammad Shirani's protest that the present government has committed violation of the Constitution by not presenting before the Parliament the reports of the Council of Islamic Ideology.
But the speaker insisted the House did receive the final report on August 20, 1997 and no such report is required any more. Shirani contested that point of view reading from Article 230. Given the ambiguity that abounds in the said provision the speaker reserved his ruling on the matter.
The proceedings of the National Assembly seemed to be eclipsed by developments that tend to unfold on the national political horizon. Having won the local bodies elections the Musharraf-Shaukat combine is now working to cobble up a new power base to win 2007 elections.
That is an uphill task, made onerous all the more because the government must win the Constitution-amending two-thirds majority. Without amending the Constitution President Musharraf cannot retain the military cap. For a landslide victory the government is believed to be working on a number of options. Kalabagh Dam is back on the front burner because it is believed, perhaps not very correctly, that it would help in harvesting massive support in Punjab.
Another option is said to be to mend fences with Benazir Bhutto to win over the Sindh vote. Will it work, is yet in the realm of conjecturing. No doubt interesting times are ahead.