The opposition on Tuesday turned down the government's offer to attend briefing of the federal relief commissioner in the Parliament House, saying it would only prefer to sit with the prime minister to discuss the post-October 8 situation.
Federal Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan extended the offer while responding to the opposition's concerns about summoning National Assembly session in a hurry.
Speaking on a point of order, Raja Pervez Ashraf from Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians said the opposition lawmakers were not fully prepared to attend the session on such a short notice.
He asked the government to justify summoning of session before schedule that was likely to take place on November 10.
Afgan said that it was pre-decided that the Lower House will meet on November 8 and the decision was conveyed to all the members well in time.
He said they have to complete mandated 130 days in a parliamentary year as there are only five days left. Moreover, he said the other objective to summon the session was to brief the parliamentarians about the ongoing relief operation.
Federal Relief Commissioner Major General Farooq, the minister said, would brief the parliamentarians about the rescue and relief operation.
However, the opposition benches promptly turned down the offer. "We are not ready to attend any briefing that would be given by a uniformed person," Raja Pervez Ashraf replied.
He said there is a parliamentary form of government and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz should come forward and brief the august House about the relief operation.
Later, the House once again initiated a 'poorly attended' debate on post-earthquake scenario, but it was almost overshadowed by war of words between Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and Muttahida Qaumi Movement.
The opposition parties demanded of the government to brief the House about all the expenditures incurred so far from the President's Relief Fund.
Initiating the debate, Pervez Ashraf said the government has miserably failed to face the natural disaster. The poor response of the international community has exposed the government's ill-planned Foreign Policy, he added.
He said it was learnt that Chinese and other rescue teams reached the quake-hit areas first, but Pakistan Army could not make it till third day of the disaster.
He regretted that when the quake survivors were desperately looking for help, army personnel were least bothered in helping them and were looking busy setting up their own camps and 'washrooms' amid country's one of the worst crises.
He said that it was the responsibility of the government to save lives of survivors still sitting under open sky without shelter in harsh weather conditions.
The ruling member, Chaudhry Aijaz Ahmed also feared that a great number of survivors would be killed due to cold weather, as they are still deprived of relief goods and tents.
He said that the government has not received foreign aid up to its expectation from the global community. "Sri Lanka alone received $5.8 billion for rehabilitation and reconstruction when it was struck by tsunami, but we have received much less despite manifold damages caused by the South Asia's worst earthquake," he regretted.
MMA lady MNA Bilqees Saif alleged that relief goods have been dumped in the warehouses when people were desperately looking for help.
She said her village was completely erased to ground but nobody came to help the people. She asked the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to build at least 25 houses in her village Buttal.
She informed the House that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has closed down one tentage village in Bara Kaho, while closure of another tentage village in H-11 is also on the cards.
Although, she did not receive any response from the MQM, but Zamurad Khan from PPPP promptly took the floor and announced to construct 25 houses in the respective area.
But the situation aggravated when Kanwar Khalid Younus and Farid Ahmed Paracha levelled serious allegations against each other's political parties.
Farid Paracha said the government has set up a President's Relief Fund in which people have donated billions of rupees that cannot be audited.
Speaking about the arrival of Nato forces, he said, the forces have come with trucks loaded with military hardware.
Meanwhile, he claimed that the MQM people have fired at the Al-Khidmat camp in Muzaffarabad, injuring one of their rescue workers. He alleged that the MQM workers were trained in Indian camps.
Moreover, he asked the MQM to brief the people about billions of rupees it has collected as donations in the name of helping the calamity-hit people.
On the other hand, Israrul Ibad and Kanwar Khalid Younus from MQM said their party was the first whose workers reached in all quake-affected areas on the directions of Founder Chief Altaf Hussain.
Kanwar Khalid strongly rejected Paracha's allegations and said it was the MQM worker who was fired upon and received serious injuries.
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