FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

From the ringside seat the National Assembly proceedings on Monday appeared more like a theatre of the absurd than the working of the parliament of a country that is still stuck in labyrinth of colonial laws and has formidable challenges to contend with.
According to the Orders of the Day the proceedings were to begin at 11 am but as soon as recitation from Holy Quran was over an opposition member pointed out the lack of quorum.
The house did not have the required attendance leaving no other option with Speaker Amir Hussain other than adjournment.
For next 100 minutes the house did not have the quorum, and probably not had it even after that. But the speaker resumed the proceedings although Mian Aslam, an Opposition member, kept on insisting that the house did not have quorum. Bells were rung and the house resumed work but it soon went out of quorum, to be adjourned for the next day.
For a Prime Minister who inducted some three scores of ministers and almost same number in other positions of perks and privileges it is point to ponder as to why the house goes out of quorum, so often.
Is he being made the target of conspiracy or is it that a Leaguer's hunger for power is insatiable?
As the visitors in the galleries watched the abysmal failure of the government to bring sufficient enough members to the house so that it is not hit by shortage of quorum, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan stood up to intone that when the speaker 's ruling cannot be challenged.
"They want to go out. Let them go". Law Minister Wasi Zafar, equally simplistic, insisted that the Opposition is obstructionist in attitude. M.P. Bhandara, toeing the party line, cryptically observed, "We cannot allow the opposition to bulldoze the house...We cannot allow this house to be a mockery."
But it was Bushra Rehman's wailing that buffeted the galleries with laughter. "Speaker Sahib you are being penalised for your sense of tolerance...Their (Opposition's) speeches were shorn of decency."
Another treasury member, Rajab Baloch, then took the floor to sympathise with Amir Hussain for being the target of no-trust move. I had wanted to tell Aitzaz Ahsan, when accused the treasury members of being dumb driven cattle, that his leader Benazir Bhutto too did not let her party members vote when she faced similar situation. But he was not correct, and it was a treasury member, Rashid Akbar, who conveyed this to him.
No one was stopped from casting the vote during the BB's time, he said, adding the provision of quorum is not the opposition's responsibility.
Only on the private members day the opposition is expected to cater to the quorum, otherwise, it is the exclusive duty of the government.
At this juncture the Opposition members entered the house. Liaquat Baloch, then, stood to reiterate the Opposition's stance on the working of the National Assembly.
The uniform Bill is in contravention of the Constitution. We will continue the protest. We cannot countenance the supremacy of the army over the Parliament. With that the Opposition members moved up the Speaker's dais raising Go Musharraf Go slogans. Then they left the house.
With the opposition members gone the calm returned to the house.
The agenda was taken in hand, one of the items being a Bill about honour killing. All except all the amendments proposed in the Bill were passed. But the quorum shortage again hit the house and after some reluctance Sardar Yaqub, the deputy Speaker, who was in chair, adjourned the house.
It is an established parliamentary dictum that the opposition opposes everything and proposes nothing. And, it is also an old parliamentary adage that while the government, by virtue of its majority, can pass hundreds of laws in one sitting but in real democracy it does not do so.
It involves the opposition, encourages debate, and keeps in view media and the public opinion for wider acceptance of its legislation. The opposition is government in waiting. It is the second wheel without which the chariot of democracy cannot move forward.