FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

Inversely proportional to the heat the out-of -parliament politics is catching the proceedings in the National Assembly on Tuesday evening lacked warmth and were so much out of focus that at times these carried the tinge of theatrical.
Instead of coping with 90-item agenda on this private members day the members, from both sides, opted to take the floor to air their points of order. Of course, the rules of business that is supposed to regulate the work of the House was the immediate casualty of this oversight, but more surprisingly the chair happened to be encouraging this exercise.
About a score of MMA members had moved a Bill to amend the Removal from Service (Special Powers) Ordinance 2000, in order that security of service that the civil servants had lost under the Ordinance is returned. But government opposed introduction of the Bill, precipitating voice vote.
"Ayes" voiced by the opposition was louder but Speaker Amir Hussain could not countenance that possibility and thought of moving to the next stage, which is head-count. He was not sure if the government had the majority at that point of time, so he resorted to an antic, unheard of in the parliamentary history.
"I think the Ayes", said the minister - to great joy of the opposition - but then he froze his lips. In the Meanwhile more government members entered the House. Once assured that the government benches had more than the opposition members he allowed head count, which the opposition lost. Has any body heard a speaker of parliament anywhere saying the "Ayes did not have it"?
The end of the sitting was still more dramatic. Nawab Yusuf Talpur wanted to table a consensus resolution that all cases against ex-prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto be withdrawn and they be allowed to return to Pakistan. By that time the House had lost quorum but nobody had pointed it out. As soon as he stood up an MQM member pointed out that the House was short of quorum. The chair adjourned the House to meet on Wednesday morning.
Over time the space in front of the main entrance to the parliament building has acquired the respectability of a sort of Hyde Park where a variety of demonstrators gather to register their protests. On Tuesday also there were two demonstrations, one by the affectees of Margalla Tower which collapsed in October-8 earthquake and the other by the Balochistan Zamindar Action Forum. Raising the issue on the floor of the assembly the opposition members asked the government to expedite payment of compensation as the apex court had directed. They alleged delay on the part of Capital Development Authority, but parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan opposed it saying things are being processed. The Speaker however, did not accept the minister's explanation and asked two other ministers to go out and meet the demonstrators. Consequent to that it was decided that a representative team of the affectees would hold a briefing meeting with the ministers on Wednesday and the house would be informed accordingly.
Yet another mismatch of perceptions between Sher Afgan and Speaker Amir Hussain materialised when the chair ruled that both the members and the ministers should spell out reasons in their leave applications. Sher Afgan questioned the ruling because at times the ministers have to go away on official business. But that was not acceptable to the Speaker who observed: "I cannot give liberty to the ministers that while the members must be present and the ministers come only for pleasure". Government member Brigadier Zulfikar Dhillon (Retd) offered yet another perception: "If you want us to be regular then draw up work schedule and then stick to it".
In fact, the House was supposed to be discussing today the load shedding in places other than Karachi, which was the subject before the House on Saturday. But a few other members wanted the House to discuss the prices of petroleum products, but Sher Afgan opposed the move. His argument was that since there had been only recently a very comprehensive debate on prices and it included the POL prices it could not be taken up in the House so soon. But the chair differed with him and said the issue whether to discuss or not the POL prices would be decided upon in the next siting.
The pending calling attention notice by Abdul Mujeeb Pirzada on extreme scarcity of water downstream Kotri was then taken up. The government side was reluctant to it saying it is the provincial matter. But Pirzada very ably defended his motion arguing that getting drinking water is a fundamental right of every Pakistani and therefore, the National Assembly is an appropriate forum for discussion on it. Last year, he said, the shortage was met by releasing poisonous water, which killed many people. Concerned minister Liaquat Jatoi responded to it by pledging that adequate water would be available within a week to ten days. The House then heard a number of points of order made like speeches, setting a new tradition in contravention of accepted parliamentary practice.