FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

If nobody stops me being a bit cynical, I would say politics in Pakistan has always been beleaguered. But it was never in the wildest of my dream that the situation could go to such an extent. In fact, no body could have predicted it even a few years ago. But now it's a reality as clear as a sunny and shinny day. Benazir Bhutto is seeking a deal with President Pervez Musharraf.
Who they both are? Benazir has many instructions. She is a twice-elected former premier. She is the first Muslim female to become a head of state and she is a politician who helped her party reborn from the death bad after 11 years of Zia's dictatorship.
But most profound among all references that can introduce her is that she is the daughter of charismatic Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a man who pioneered the politics of defiance in Pakistan.
Benazir seeking secretive power deal with Musharraf, the most unacceptable of military rulers Pakistan had suffered, is something the history will defiantly call an incongruity. When? No body knows. But one known impact of this Bhutto's arrangement is quite obvious. That is that other bitter opponents of Musharraf now appear to be in a fix.
It was quite apparent in the National Assembly when it met on Wednesday evening to complete an inconclusive debate on law and order. As the focus shifts somewhere else, the parliament looks to be a place most irrelevant as well emerging political scenario is concerned. The only thing that gave a clue of what sort of alignments would be made future was the welcome a defiant female MNA of ruling party received from MPs of Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party.
Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, a MNA from Sialkot who recently joined PPP and left PML, was at the centre of attention among Bhutto's diehards. Otherwise, in the Lower House, a debate on the law and order remained mechanical but met a dramatic end.
The government at the end failed to wind up three-day debate when Speaker Amir Hussain abruptly had to adjourned the House to avoid embarrassment due to lack of quorum. Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao was trying to justify early this month's military operation against Lal Masjid but the Speaker, all of a sudden, adjourned the proceedings for Thursday morning.
In the presence of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, parliamentarians of religio-political alliance walked out to protest military operation. Soon a MMA lawmaker wanted to point out lack of quorum, Hussain interrupted the Interior Minister asking him to wind up the debate till Thursday.
Though Sherpao pressed the Speaker for few more minutes but he did not receive an encouraging response resultantly the proceedings were adjourned. In his incomplete speech, Sherpao made it clear that the government had no plans to take action against any seminary.
Earlier, taking part in the debate Mahmood Khan Achakzai demanded of the government to convene a joint sitting of the Parliament in wake of US threats to attack country's tribal areas.
"I tell you Mr Speaker we have to find answers of US allegations otherwise Pakistan will not remain," he warned. According to some reports, Achakzai continued, some military personnel were shot dead who had refused to attack Lal Mosque compound. Besides the supremacy of the Constitution, he urged the government to restrict the role of the intelligence agencies.
The other opposition members also censured the government for deteriorating law and order situation across the country. Some members said anti-military sentiments were growing among the people therefore, it should go back to barracks.
MMA parliamentarian Abdul Akbar Chitrali's remarks against Muttahida Qaumi Movement triggered mild protest. He said MQM was a terrorist party and also held it responsible for Karachi carnage on May 12. The issue of production orders of PML-N jailed President Makhdoom Javed Hashmi and MMA legislator Shah Abdul Aziz also echoed in the House.
With institutions like judiciary and media gathering more muscles out of what happened in Pakistan after March 9 this year and recent deals, it is now a big question how can parliament be a centre place of power game. Will it ever be?