FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

From day one, lack of quorum has stymied the working of the present National Assembly. On Friday, as soon as the Tilwat of Holy Quran was over a member of the opposition pointed out the lack of quorum and the House had to be adjourned.
It met again after about an hour but by then the time for the question-hour was exhausted. For the 'day after' when the Lower House passed the controversial pro-uniform bill, it was pretty calm. But then came the bombshell with stunning suddenness.
Dr Tahirul Qadri, the sole representative of Pakistan Awami Tehreek in the National Assembly, stood up on a point of order. Since he had come to the House after a long furlough, Speaker Amir Hussain allowed him to express himself. After all he was a staunch supporter of the government.
But the very first word that dropped from the lips of Dr Qadri was a signal strong enough for the Speaker to know that the wind has changed its direction. The Speaker tried to interrupt but the member known for his eloquence could not be.
"What happened yesterday was the saddest event in the parliamentary history of the entire world... an elected parliament snuffed out its own freedom...I think it is beyond my dignity to sit in this House any more. I have decided to resign from my membership," said Dr Tahirul Qadri as he waved his resignation.
Within no time, a number of members from the opposition benches ran to his seat and besieged him. Don't resign, they implored. Then all of the opposition members moved to the dais in front of the Speaker's dais and raised the familiar slogan: 'Go Musharraf Go', interspersed with 'Go Speaker Go'. After lung-bursting sloganeering against the two, the opposition members came out of the house, with Dr Qadri in the lead.
Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Chaudhry Nisar Ali, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and others from the opposition tried to convince that Dr Qadri should not resign. We all would like to resign, they told him, arguing that the government would fill up the vacancies through by-elections, and in the process it would acquire the two-third majority.
That would hurl the country and the people in that deep, dark chasm. We need to plan our moves against the government with care, they apprised Dr Tahirul Qadri. But he was not moved by their pleadings.
"I gave my full backing to President Musharraf for two and a half years. I believed him when he promised clean politics and real democracy; I believed him when he said he would end corruption; I believed him when he said judiciary would be fully independent and bureaucracy non-political.
But, I was disappointed. There is more corruption than before. Parliament has been turned into a congregation of domestic servants as it passed only that legislation which strengthened the hands of only one individual; and all vital foreign policy decisions, be these about Kashmir or talks with India, were taken in the darkness of night. Sitting in the National Assembly any longer would be a burden on my conscience. I will not take back my resignation." Dr Tahirul Qadri was categorical.
As Dr Qadri was spelling out his case before reporters at the gates of the Parliament inside the house, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan was moving into a bobby-trap laid by him.
Apparently without consulting his colleagues, or possibly on advice from somewhere, he moved a privilege motion against the opposition members who had besieged Speaker Amir Hussain a day before. He wanted the Chair, Deputy Speaker Sardar Yaqoob, to refer his motion to the privileges committee for disciplinary action, particularly against Mehmud Khan Achakzai and Naheed Khan.
At that point of time, the opposition was not in the House. But how his own members reacted to Sher Afgan's move is instructive in understanding what is beneath the surface and how tenuous is the government strength.
Zafarullah Khan was the first to speak on the motion. Firstly, it would not be proper to discuss the opposition members' act in their absence; secondly, "what happened the day before had taken place before also but the people have woken up to it now after so long."
He proposed that the matter be settled between the erring members and the Speaker in the latter's chamber instead of the floor of the National Assembly. "We have to see why it happened," he said, adding it was not the first time the opposition occupied the space in front of the Speaker's dais. Don't complicate things," he warned Sher Afgan. The treasury benches greeted Jamali by thumping desks.
Riaz Pirzada, M.P. Bhandara, Kashmala Tariq, Zafar Iqbal Warraiach and Malik Allah Yar gave their full endorsement to Jamali, with Bhandara giving the additional prescription to Sher Afgan to speak less. "Brevity is soul of wit," he intoned.
But it looks that the presiding officers of the two Houses are confronted with a queer dilemma. Their decisions remain enigmatic. As the debate on Sher Afgan's motion came to close, Deputy Speaker Sardar Yaqoob ruled that while the motion is admitted the decision to refer it to the privileges committee is deferred.
The resistance to the parliamentary affairs minister came from the treasury benches. Some earlier incidents, too, show that Sher Afgan does not enjoy the support of many members in both the Houses.
But the way he was opposed by the ruling coalition members on the day the opposition was on boycott against the uniform bill and one of the government members had resigned from the membership tends to conjure up a disturbing scenario.
Some sampling of that scenario would be available next week when the vote of no confidence against Speaker Amir Hussain would be put to vote in secret ballot. Interesting times are ahead, indeed.