The opposition in the National Assembly on Tuesday flayed the Parliament and the civilian government in handling aftermath of the earthquake.
For the second consecutive day, the decision to allow deployment of Nato forces was extensively debated in the House, while some opposition members stressed that a mechanism be evolved to ensure transparency in the usage of the local and foreign financial aid.
Parliamentary leader of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) called for an inquiry as to why the concerned authorities took more than 72 hours in responding to the tragedy.
Speech by Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) MNA Manzoor Ahmed was the most touching and carried substantive weight.
Science and Technology Minister Nauraiz Shakoor rose to clarify that the Nato troops would be for rescue and relief operation.
He informed the House that the comprehensive report on the losses would be made public on November 15.
PML-N leader Nisar Ali Khan said that the response of the government and the Parliament to the natural disaster was not spontaneous.
He wanted to know why the civilian set up and the Parliament were not fully taken on board while coping with the post-quake situation.
He said that it was difficult for the entire nation to face the gigantic challenge what to talk of a single institution or an individual.
He criticised the decision to allow Nato forces and asked why the Parliament and the Cabinet was not taken into confidence on such a sensitive issue. "This is the rulers' conduct, while they keep on insisting the federal parliamentary and democratic dispensation is in vogue in the country," he said.
He said that despite passage of two weeks, there was still no co-ordination between the army, civil administration and the NGOs.
"In this situation, the nation requires credible leadership. The president, prime minister and ministers are confined to photo-specific activities," he alleged.
The PML leader proposed that all parties and organisations should stop displaying their names on relief goods, as it would indicate their political ends were the driving forces behind this gesture.
About the usage of local and foreign financial assistance, he called for transparency, which he wondered, would not be possible with two generals heading the relief bodies and the third leading the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
He said that the army should be exclusively assigned the task of distribution of relief items and the rest be done by the civilian government.
PPPP MNA Manzoor asked where were the crisis management agencies when 11 schoolgirls kept crying for help for four days, under debris of a collapsed library at Bagh. "On the fifth day, these cries were replaced by stink," he said with a choked voice, as complete silence returned to the House that appeared little bit noisy before that.
The lawmaker wanted to know why the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and National Highway Authority (NHA) announced holiday and sent all its employees home, immediately after the quake tragedy?
He said that major chunk of the budget is taken away by the defence, debt-servicing and state expenditures... are these ready to cut their expenditures at least by 25 percent, enabling reconstruction in the affected areas?
Manzoor proposed that the government should at least ask the donor agencies for debt holiday, if they were not convinced to write-off some of the liabilities.
He said that instead of generals, Kashmir Affairs Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat or Kashmir Committee Chairman Hamid Nasir Chattha should have been made in-charge of the relief and rehabilitation.
The PPPP MNA said the writ of the government was missing, as looting of trucks, loaded with relief aid is rampant, and there is no check on the prices of tents, blankets and other items.
"In my view, the people of Pakistan have emerged victorious, while the rulers are losers," he said.
He said if there was nothing wrong in meeting Israeli prime minister or minister, what made the rulers shy away from allowing two ex-premiers to return home and play their role in this hour of need and trial.
He sought government explanation, as to why China, the most trusted friend of Pakistan, did not show traditional warmth to help the government.
On a point of order, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) drew attention of the House towards reported desecration of the Holy Quran by the US troops in Afghanistan.
Quoting a news item, he said the US troops polished their shoes with the pages of the Holy Book at Kandahar airbase. He condemned the abominable act and demanded of the House to pass a condemnation resolution on the issue.
Ruling PML MNA Mehnaz Rafi informed the House that she saw US tents and other items, meant for the quake victims, being sold in Rawalpindi.
Ms Naheed Khan of PPPP wanted the government to act with caution in handling the separated or orphaned children, as a six-year-old girl had landed in the hands of a wrong woman. In this connection, she quoted a news, appearing in Sunday Times and reproduced in a local English daily on Tuesday.
MMA MNA Farid Paracha said that majority of victims had died due to the natural calamity, while now people were dying because of our negligence and lack of responsibility. "Why the Parliament was not taken into confidence while taking important decisions?" He asked.
He called for registration of victims arriving in Rawalpindi and Islamabad and elsewhere from NWFP and AJK.
The Public Accounts Committee, he proposed, should take suo mottu notice of the massive destruction of government buildings in NWFP and Kashmir. Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan revealed that 4,500 tents were stuck up in China for so many days, as there is no arrangement to airlift them to the affected areas.
Professor Mushtaq Victor, Farooq Amjad Mir, Malik Amin Aslam, Zahid Hamid, Pervaiz Ashraf, Jaffar Devan and Bakhtiar Mani also spoke on the occasion.
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