FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT: PCNS proposals: opposition sticks to its guns over initiating debate

The distrustful opposition refused for the second consecutive day of the joint sitting of the Parliament to accept any justification of the treasury benches to formally starting debate on the proposals of Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) regarding new terms of engagements with the US and reviewing foreign policy of the country.
However, on Tuesday, the positive thing about the proceedings of the House was the flexibility shown by the opposition, as Chairman PCNS Senator Raza Rabbani was allowed to move the motion smoothly in the Parliament for taking into consideration the report of the Committee.
Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehamn spoke on point of orders and explained the reason for distrust on the government. Obviously, the record of the government is not positive about the implementation of the unanimous resolution adopted by the Parliament about national security during the last four years. The opposition feels betrayed and is not ready to trust without taking firm assurance from the concerned quarters' involved practical implementation of the recommendations. On the other hand, treasury members have been insisting the opposition leader to open the debate on recommendations but failed to persuade him. Thus the debate has not yet been initiated formally but the huge distrust between treasury and opposition on such an important issue of National Security was glaring. The distrust is so deep that opposition linked participation in the debate to the assurances from the government that to review the recommendations as well as their implementation in letter and spirit. The opening of the proceedings was marked by the back to back walkouts by the coalition partners. Obviously, the two coalition partners have been none other than, Awami National Party (ANP) and Muttahid Qumai Movement (MQM), who stage a walk out for separate reasons. ANP staged a walkout against the two hours delay in proceedings whiles the MQM over the latest incident of violence and killing of its workers in Karachi. The difference between the two walkout was that Speaker National Assembly was heard directing the Chief Whip Syed Khrshid to persuade and bring the ANP back to the House while most of the people quipped that they did not hear such directives about MQM. When the ruling party was struggling to deal with the coalition partners, the outburst from the opposition was even more fatal for the reason that it not only refused to open debate and preferred to speak on point of orders but also vowed to physically resist the decision to restore Nato supplies . Chaudhry Nisar and Maulan Fazlur Rehamn pointed out glaring contradictions in the recommendations of the by-partisan committee of the Parliament and questioned the justification for insertion of proposals which are beyond the capacity of the government to enforce them. The opposition leader wanted to know how the government would implement the proposal regarding cessation of drone attacks and punishing the people involved in Salala incident when US report does not consider Nato troops responsible for the incident. Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman was even more aggressive and without any hesitation alleged that the government has already taken the decision to reopen Nato supplies and also referred to the media reports in this regard.
Another important issue raised in the joint sitting of the Parliament was the tragic death of Fakhra Younas over which the House adopted unanimous resolution to express deep sorrow and condolence and calling for improvement in the law by removing legal lacunae to make it more effective and block possibilities of acquittals of the people in such crimes. Some needs to tell the members that the real problem is about implementation of laws whether these are regarding acid throwing, or against kidnapping for ransom, target killings, child abuse or problem of lesser degree such as hoarding, black marketing or power theft.