FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

The National Assembly on Tuesday held two sittings, the second one to make up for the Monday sitting which had failed to take up a bill the government wanted to pass reportedly during the sojourn here of an important foreign guest.
The bill seeks tighter controls on export of nuclear and biological-related technologies and materials and the guest was US Under-secretary of Economic, Business and Agriculture Affairs Alan Larson who met Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Monday and finalised a three billion dollars assistance package.
But Larson's visit at the time of tabling the bill "to provide for export control on goods, technologies, material and equipment related to nuclear and biological weapons and their delivery systems" in the National Assembly could have been very coincidental.
In fact, it was introduced last June and promptly referred to the committee on foreign affairs, which was not in existence, in compliance with the UN Security Council Resolution 1540. Now that President Musharraf is planning to address the UN General Assembly next week the government must have thought not to be in arrears with respect to the world body.
On Monday evening, the bill could not be taken up because the House went out of quorum when the opposition walked out. Speaker Amir Hussain suspended the proceedings hoping the treasury members would return in number to complete the quorum.
Twice the bells were rung but members, even of the government, paid no heed and finally he had to adjourn the House for next day. Since the induction of new cabinet, the left-outs are conspicuously indifferent to the proceedings of the National Assembly.
The opposition could not precipitate a substantive debate on the bill which otherwise deals with the sensitive issue of nuclear technology. Its main objection was that members were not given sufficient time to read and comprehend the implications of the bill, though the fact is that the draft of the proposed law was in the legislators' hands as back as last June.
Rejecting the amendments proposed by the opposition, the House passed it with simple majority after a lacklustre debate. The only spark that flew out of the debate was an inadvertent remark by M.P. Bhandara against Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan which he later withdrew when opposition member Hafiz Salman Butt protested.
Thus came to a successful conclusion the maiden presentation of newly inducted state minister for foreign affairs Makhdoom Khusro Bukhtiar.
Before adjourning the sitting, Speaker Amir Hussain gave his ruling on the contentious debate on the presidential uniform in the morning.
The opposition had contended through a series of adjournment motions that President Pervez Musharraf breached the members' privilege by claiming that he was legally entitled to keep the uniform after December 31, 2004.
But the government ministers' plea was the President's remarks fall within the ambit of freedom of expression as sanctified by the Constitution.
The Speaker held the opposition's motions out of order asserting the Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression leading to formulation of opinion which does not amount to breach of privilege of members.
Tuesday morning sitting was the private members day. The orders of the day had listed 61 items but the proceedings opened with discussion on four privilege motions of the opposition, which the Speaker clubbed together.
Aitzaz Ahsan was one of the movers and a day before he had asked the Speaker, without success, that he should be informed of the timing when these would be taken up. Yet he made to the House in time to say his words when Speaker Amir Hussain abruptly took up the motions on uniform on Tuesday morning.
In his speech, he made a multi-pronged approach.
First of all he rejected the impression - popularised by some government ministers including Sher Afgan - that he (Aitzaz Ahsan) had admitted that the 17th Amendment entitles President Musharraf to keep uniform after the stipulated cut-off date.
"I was quoted out of context," he said. Then he underscored the crux of the oath the President took on joining the army, in that he would "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of Pakistan", which the opposition leader said was violated.
Quintessentially, the presidential office is a political post that comes through election and is different from the office of the COAS. Farid Piracha reminded the House of President Musharraf's telecast last year when he said he would take off his uniform by the cut-off date.
But the defence put up by the ministers in support of uniform was weak if not totally unconvincing. Sher Afgan claimed that the opposition has not been able to prove that its members' privilege was breached.
Secondly, it is premature to discuss the uniform issue because the President has committed no such violation. Law Minister Wasi Zafar took the stand that whatever is being attributed to President Musharraf in the context of uniform is protected by his right to freedom of expression.
Secondly, already elected as the President, General Pervez Musharraf is beyond the reach of Article 63, which deals with qualification of members of the National Assembly.
"Constitution is very clear. He was elected in uniform and will remain in uniform till he completes his presidential tenure".
A kind of political negativity tends to create balance between the government and opposition forces in the House.
The induction of a large number of ministers has generated apathy in those who have been ignored.
These left-outs are indifferent, nonchalant about the proceedings. On the opposition side, the three main segments - MMA, PPPP and PML (N) - appear to be pulling in different directions.
Of late, they have held separate press conferences and staged walkouts in phases, keeping up their individual elans.