FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

A bull can definitely destroy a china shop, but if you need a perfect finish to your work entrust this job to Sher Afgan Khan Niazi, the worthy minister for parliamentary affairs.
Just in one day, in less than two hours, he not only triggered almost a vote defeat of the government - miraculously saved by loyalist Speaker Amir Hussain - in the National Assembly the impetuous minister almost earned a walkout by the ruling members against him in the Senate.
If any extraneous force helped him achieve his mission it was the lingering resentment among the left-outs that could not climb unto the bandwagon of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz cabinet.
All this and much more were showcased on Thursday evening in the sittings of both the houses in their own typical styles.
The National Assembly began its work half an hour late but soon settled down to listless the question hour, which ended within 35 minutes, thanks to the late start and divine intervention of Maghrib prayers.
The orders of the day was brief, therefore, the speaker took up an adjournment motion on the increase in the price of LPG cylinders.
As the movers argued for the admissibility of the motion in the absence of minister in-charge Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Khan Niazi took up the challenge.
He said the movers' case was untenable because the prime minister had already ordered review of the price and its reduction, therefore, the motion is redundant.
The speaker, in his wisdom, put it to the House to seek its leave to help withdraw the motion. This leave was to be granted by vote, and that created a Catch-22 situation for the government because it did not have majority at that point of time.
The counting, disputed by the opposition, put the voting strength 76-76. To the speaker's suggestion that he should use his casting vote the opposition said no.
Then he took the position that since counting has been challenged it would be done again. In the second count the government won by a margin of two votes. Treasury Member Ijaz Bilal Virk, who is also a parliamentary secretary but was not promoted to be deputy minister, left the House clearly conveying the message that he was not happy with the government.
The opposition contested the speaker's move of bailing out the government and staged walkout. And, as soon as it left the House one of its members pointed out towards lack of quorum.
The speaker ordered the counting of the present and found that the House was in order - surprising many in the galleries that one moment the government had 81 members and the next they were more than 86 (the minimum quorum of the National Assembly) or more.
As the opposition was still out of the House the government passed the bill which exempts the ISI recruitment from the purview of the Federal Public Service Commission.
The Senate had passed the bill earlier. Since there was practically no other business before the National Assembly Chaudhry Amir Hussain invited the members to ventilate their feelings in what was described by M.P. Bhandara the "zero hour".
That provided the opportunity to opposition's Chaudhry Nisar Ali to show the mirror to the government and the speaker. You spend millions every day in the name of running the Parliament, but is this what the Parliament of Pakistan should be doing now when the country is confronted with huge challenges.
In the Senate the things caught the heat when treasury member Kamil Ali Agha rose vociferously protesting the letter Sher Afgan Khan wrote to the senators belonging to the government to ensure they do not miss out the sittings and create the quorum problem.
We don't accept such an advice from a minister, he insisted, getting concurrence from the Acting Chairman Khalilur Rehman. Sher Afgan immediately opened the book of rules and rose to explain the reason but the chair ordered he did not want any suggestion. The minister was not cowed down. He again tried to rise on his seat, but the chair was unforgiving: "Sit down. I don't want any interference by a minister." Parigul Agha joined the fray. "Chairman Sahib you make him understand otherwise we will."
Then came yet another treasury member. Khalid Ranjha held the court reading of the minister's letter para by para, rejecting every word of it with ridicule.
What the minister has written is factually incorrect; it tends to tarnish the image of parliamentarians; and should the prime minister feel dissatisfied with the performance of the senators he being their former colleague could talk to them directly, Ranjha said.
Only when the minister had been thoroughly dusted the leader of the house offered to rescue him. Sher Afgan said sorry, and he said it twice. Pressure on him was so great his humiliation was so thorough, I hope he would think before passing any judgement in future.
At the end he was forgiven. Did he write this letter without the consent of the Prime Minister? If he did he should be sacked. If he had not and the PM was in picture he should be defended by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. A stitch in time saves nine!