FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

The mockery of parliamentary democracy of Pakistan gets exposed every now and then but its most spectacular display is these days on in the National Assembly. There is no business in hand to transact but the House must meet to complete its mandated 130-day work in a parliamentary year, which ends on November 15.
It is a race against time but that does not essentially mean members' regard for punctuality. So, when the House opened its doors on Tuesday evening for what is billed the 29th session hardly a dozen or so members were present. Suspending the listed agenda which was long but of little interest to the government, as it was the private members day, Speaker Amir Hussain hurried through the two calling attention notices and then invited debate on the October 8 earthquake.
Last Tuesday, the National Assembly was prorogued after the debate on the earthquake was properly wrapped up by the prime minister himself. But the House started debate on the earthquake disaster once again mainly to pass the time even when on average the House meets not for more than two hours a day. Today also, the House was adjourned when it had met for not more than two hours.
Given this perspective on the need for the assembly to meet how would one expect the debate to be of quality or reflective of nation's will? Obviously, there was lot of sparring, with members tossing accusations against each other across the aisle. One that was made against leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and his group, was, however, quite stunning.
PPPP's Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had come quite prepared for his second speech on the national disaster. After having established that the government (read Pak Army) was quite slow in reacting to the tragic happening he flashed a newspaper clipping and said if there was shortage of helicopters in carrying out rescue and relief there was a reason behind that.
At least one of the helicopters was at the service of Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi on the Eid day as he was picnicking near Mandi Bahauddin in the company of Shujaat Hussain, Mushahid Hussain and some others. There is no contradiction to the story even on the second day of its publication, he said. Ejaz Chaudhry, the treasury member from Mandi Bahauddin, who too spoke on the national disaster, did not contradict the story but did object to giving the event a political colour.
Farid Paracha's account was scathing, an open attack on the government and the forces for what he portrayed as their colossal failure in providing help to the victims of killer quake, but his opening was as dramatic as it possibly could be. Today, at Muzaffarabad, the MQM people fired at the Al-Khidmat camp injuring one of its workers, he said, adding that the MQM activists were trained in Indian camps and their agenda in Kashmir is India's.
Tilting at the MQM once again, he said, the movement must account for the billion and a quarter of rupees it collected as donations in the name of helping the people of quake-affected areas. As for the official position that Nato presence is only of non-military nature, the MMA member while informing the House said, its trucks loaded with military hardware have been spotted in Kashmir.
Who could be better qualified to convey the pain and agony of the suffering multitude of the quake-hit areas than the member from Buttal, Bilquis Saif. I am the direct victim, my village was totally demolished but none came to my village, she almost cried. If the MQM claims they were the first to erect donation camps "I challenge them to build 25 houses in my village". There was no immediate response, but then PPPP's Zamurad Khan got up on a point of order: "Give me the names of 25 victims and I will construct 25 houses for them."
In between the major speeches sparring between the MQM and MMA members continued. Israrul Ibad and Kanwar Khalid Younus took the floor more than once to rebut charges thrown from the other side. Israrul Ibad said the first person in the country who reacted to the havoc caused by the October 8 earthquake was Altaf Hussain who within half an hour of the incident ordered setting up of relief camps. Kanwar Khalid Younus strongly rejected Paracha's allegation and said it was the MQM workers who was fired upon and injured.