FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

To vote or not to vote was the question that rent asunder the opposition on Tuesday, as the National Assembly met to elect the new prime minister. And when the time came, the ARD and its liberal fringe voted for Makhdoom Amin Fahim, but the MMA abstained. No such dilemma, however, confronted the members of the ruling coalition.
A year and half ago they had voted en bloc for Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and now they were to troop up to the NA lobby to the right of the speaker to repose confidence in the leadership of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. The entire saga had the trappings of ' The king is dead, long live the king'.
The first act of the play was the opposition's ritualistic uproar. The opposition created pandemonium, raising slogans that the incarcerated PML (N) leader Javed Hashmi be produced in the house so that he could cast his vote.
Raja Pervez Ashraf shouted that Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain being bank defaulter and beneficiary of loans write-off should be barred from contesting election to the prime ministership. But soon the rumpus subsided and the speaker ordered voting by way of division of the house. An hour later the house had voted: 190 for Shujaat, 76 for Amin Fahim and 60, exclusively MMA, abstained.
The outcome of voting did not surprise anyone. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain received greetings from leaders on both sides of aisle, including Humayun Akhtar. But what was said by the PM-designate, the ousted prime minister, leader of opposition Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Makhdoom Amin Fahim on the floor of the house after the voting sent a clear signal that turbulence that lies ahead may be more dangerous than the one just encountered.
Shujaat Hussain thanked those who voted for him, "though I had never desired to be the prime minister, never lobbied for it...Now that I am elected to this office I believe it is a sacred trust given to me, and I will protect it".
He identified his mission as defence of Islamic values, good governance and continuation of policies laid down by President Musharraf. He also paid tribute to humility of Jamali.
Makhdoom Amin Fahim opened his speech on a sarcastic note: " The majority voted for Chaudhry Tariq Aziz (President Musharraf's principal aide). Sorry, for Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain".
He slated the speaker for not ordering the production order of Javed Hashmi. "It is the murder of democracy. No doubt a dictator is overseeing everything but Mr. Speaker it was your responsibility to produce Hashmi in the house so that he could take part in the election". Jamali was innocent; he had done nothing wrong, the PPP leader said.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the leader of opposition in the house, made the bitterest attack on the president so far.
"A Prime Minister has been forced to resign, although even the opposition made no complaints against him. There was not a situation of emergency, nor it was anarchy in the country...But what an innocuousness it was said he resigned on his own. Isn't it oppression? He laughed at Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain's taking oath to defend the Constitution for two and half months, as he has nominated his successor also. "This is contempt of the Constitution".
Using strong language against the president, the leader of opposition, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, warned that the "country can not be held hostage by an individual".
He resented what he called threats by the president on his non-participation in the NSC meeting, and said the "ruler should have talked decently". Referring to his recent expulsion from Sindh, he said if a chief minister is allowed to throw out the leader of opposition in the National Assembly "will it not justify expulsion of the Prime Minister from Sarhad".
He questioned the nomination of Shaukat Aziz as "imported" Prime Minister in the future, asking can he name any constituency from where he could be elected.
Speaking at the end, Zafarullah Khan Jamali rejected the impression that he was forced to resign. "All of it was with mutual consultations...All of your desires are not fulfilled".
He compared his departure with the final journey of Alexander the Great who had his hands extended out of the coffin to convey that he was leaving the world empty-handed. But what a paradox that while he defended his party and his leaders it was the opposition which banged desks when he entered the house, came up to him to console him and clapped when he spoke. From the treasury benches only a couple of lady members walked up to him and had themselves photographed with him.