FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

Perceptional mismatch that had beset the opposition over the Women Protection Bill appeared to have disappeared as various segments of the opposition joined hands on Friday and thoroughly lambasted the government on the floor of the Senate.
ANP chief Asfandyar Wali had moved that his privilege as a member of the Senate was breached when on November 15 the local administration forcibly stopped him from going to the seminary in Bajaur that was bombed last month. He wanted that his privilege motion be referred to the concerned committee of the House.
Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao promptly 'opposed' it, which meant that it should be discussed and possibly talked out. But an angry Asfandyar reacted by saying that if that were the case he would like to withdraw the motion - causing serious embarrassment to Leader of the House Wasim Sajjad, who had promised Asfandyar that his motion would be entertained and then referred to the committee.
But Sherpao was not in the picture, and wrongly so, because the Leader of the House had thought that the incident took place in the tribal area which should have been the baby of the Safron ministry, while that particular place where Asfandyar was stopped is in the settled area.
This misunderstanding led to exchange of hot words between the two Pushtoons. Given the political weight of Asfandyar even parliamentary affairs minister Sher Afgan joined the official course of 'it is my mistake', conceding he could not inform the interior minister of the privilege motion filed by the ANP chief. That said, Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro decided to refer the motion to the committee, but Leader of the Opposition Mian Raza Rabbani did not agree. A few more arguments and counter-arguments and the chairman brought the matter to a close by keeping his ruling reserved on referring the motion to the committee.
This was the first day of the requisitioned session, to discuss opposition's adjournment motion on Bajaur incident. Maulana Gul Naseeb opened the debate, by asking some pertinent questions.
Was it the Pakistan army or the United States who bombed the school? Were the victims Pakistanis or foreigners? Is it true that bombing killed school children? Would the bombing of the school contain the so-called terrorism or promote it? And, was the killing of 42 army jawans at the Dargai training camp a reaction to the Bajaur incident? Gul Naseeb then set about spelling out the events preceding the madressa bombing, trying to uncover the truth in the matter.
Narrating some details as to how contradictory statements made on the bombing of Damadoola village, in Bajaur agency, last January the MMA leader inferred that official truth about the school incident remains suspected. He said the victims were students, mostly from the same area.
The majority of the victims of the Dargai suicide bombing were also from the same area, and that a survey conducted by daily Mashriq has confirmed the fact that all victims were local and majority of them were children. Quoting local residents he said the United States carried out the "huge blast" that killed almost everybody in the school and the Pak army planes came later.
Moving on with his argument that it were the Americans who conducted the killer raid Gul Naseeb tried to establish that while the Pakistan government was about to sign an agreement of peace with the locals, the Americans sabotaged it.
His question then was if it were the Americans who attacked the school then what would happen to our sovereignty. And, if it was the Pakistan army's operation then one would like to know why these handful of so-called terrorists were not apprehended and taken to the court. He pleaded for restraint because force is no solution; it would promote culture of violence and terrorism, which our enemies badly want.
He also gave a heart-rending account of the day after the bombing when mothers were trying to figure out if the things that looked like pieces of debris were the body parts of their children.
However, Gul Nasseb saw no reason to connect the Dargai incident with the school killings, insisting those who think otherwise are guilty of conspiracy to pitch the people against the armed forces. But Asfandyar Wali, the next to take the floor, had a different perception. "I am convinced that the Dargai incident was the reaction of the Bajaur killings". Tracing the persistent turmoil in the tribal areas to the arrival of Afghan refugees in early 80s, he said it is the Pakistan government who converted the Muhajireen into Mujahideen, and then into Taliban.
He also brought out contradictions in the official position vis-à-vis the role of Maulana Liaquat Hussain, the school in-charge who died in the bombing. If the government was monitoring the school for over a year why then it did not arrest Liaquat on the night of the bombing when he had come for a dialogue with the officials, he asked.
Others who spoke included Abdur Rashid and Liaquat Ali Bangalzai. The House will now meet on Monday evening to continue discussion on the twin-tragedy of Bajaur and Dargai.