FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

Both the houses of the Parliament were prorogued on Friday, leaving one wondering if democracy, the ordinary one, and not the "real democracy", has a chance in Pakistan.
The National Assembly opened its 21st session on September 13, followed by the Senate session two days later. With hindsight one would say two things stand out as the main agenda of the government for the outgoing parliamentary session. One, the government wanted to pass law controlling nuclear exports, tabled earlier in June but held in limbo at the committee stage, before President Musharraf was to speak in the UN General Assembly. Two, to put on its feet in the Parliament the new cabinet. These objectives were achieved. But, albeit vicariously, the heightened political polarisation that has begun eating into the vitals of the nation's body-politicks also came under sharper focus.
From the opposition's perspective, President Musharraf's announcement that he would retain both the presidential office and the COAS job after the cut-off date and the ongoing military operation in South Waziristan constituted the staple food for the Parliament if this were to be believed to be sovereign. But the government ably assisted by the presiding officers, particularly National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain, made every conceivable move to obfuscate the opposition plans.
The speaker made conscious efforts to keep the sittings brief, encouraged members to speak on non-issues on points of order or as breach of privilege motions. But what the government achieved in the end was the Pyrrhic victory, if one looks at the big picture.
Firstly, the big cabinet was as helpless if not more as the previous in delivering anything worthwhile. Although the newly inducted ministers occupied major chunks of front rows of the treasury benches in both the houses they were never there in time to counteract the opposition, which of late seems to have acquired new stridency.
Poor Sher Afgan Khan Niazi, the minister for parliamentary affairs, was often seen tilting at the windmills all alone, and in those unequal fights he has often been meted out indescribable humiliation. The big ministerial team also failed in securing the minimum strength on the floor to meet the quorum requirement. With a confirmed strength of 190 plus members in the National Assembly the government had have to eat the humble pie a number of times when it failed to be present in the House to save itself from the mischief of lack of quorum.
The quorum problem has become pervasive so much so that on the concluding day when Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz volunteered to be present throughout the sitting the House had to undergo quorum counting thrice.
Rumour is rife in the capital that a part of the ruling coalition is unhappy with the new inductions into the federal cabinet. It has struck back by keeping away from the National Assembly causing frequent lack of quorum interruptions. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, whose presence in the House helps in raising the attendance, has also 'mysteriously' disappeared from the capital. Not surprisingly, therefore, Shaukat Aziz engaged in pep talk with members who buttonholed him to pass on their grievances when he was in his chair or went over to them.
Both the houses are expected to be summoned into session in the first week of the next month. On the face of it there is no serious business to be transacted except perhaps enacting a law to redefine the "office of profit" to help President Musharraf in retaining the post of army chief.
The provincial assemblies of Punjab and Sindh, the two bigger provinces, had already appealed to him not to doff his military uniform at the time when the country, according to them, is faced with multiple challenges. Some reports suggest that a team of constitutional experts is presently working on the draft of the proposed act. By then the president will have also decided on the appointments of two new four-star generals to fill slots that would fall vacant.