FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

Pakistan image was tarnished in the international community when it was widely reported last week by local as well as foreign media that burying alive of five women in Balochistan was defended in Senate. The lawmakers were prompt on Monday to correct this image because they always react promptly if some wrong signal is given to the outside world.
The government and the opposition always prefer to respond quickly to international concern for a local tragedy. Through a unanimous resolution, the Upper House of the parliament condemned the incident (the reported incident of burying alive the five Baloch women). This is a message, according to PML (Q) Senator Waseem Sajjad, which must reach to the international community. But what is there in store for the people of Pakistan to know? Nothing, absolutely nothing.
The reason for this is simply the initial investigations into the incident were not correct and this was stated by Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik. To the surprise for many sitting in the press gallery, overwhelming majority of the senators did not know the exact location where this incident took place around a month ago.
PML (Q) Senator Bibi Yasmeen Shah mentioned the name of Jafarabad district in Balochistan. But Acting Chairman Jan Muhammad Jamali was prompt to correct Bibi, who actually raised this issue in the House on Friday. "Even you do not know the name of the place and raising this issue. It is Nasirabad district," observed the chair. It was disgusting the mover of the resolution was changed. Waseem Sajjad moved the resolution by taking the floor even without formal permission from the chair.
It was all a mess in the Upper House when it took up the issue as some civil society organisations were holding a protest demonstration outside the Parliament House against some senators from Balochistan who had defended the incident in the name of Baloch traditions.
While quoting from an official file of initial investigations, interior advisor told the House about three women named Fatima, Fauzia and Jannat Bibi over a property dispute. He remained short of telling the House that they were not buried alive. He also disputed the death toll as he disclosed that three women instead of five were killed. There was unanimity of views from all the senators that killing was barbaric act. However, there were some cautious reservations from Balochistan senators suggesting that the House should wait for investigations to complete and then move a resolution. However, their voice fell on deaf ear because the House had to pass a unanimous resolution to undo the negative implications of what was reported last week.
The resolution was meant for international consumption while Pakistanis would be waiting may be for a long time until the investigations were completed. The incident occurred in July and even the initial investigations were not correct. "Don't worry, everything will be alright," said Rehman Malik. But he did not mention to say that our bureaucracy reacts in a very slow motion to human rights violation because the violators always belong to influential class - the class which has its relations in bureaucracy, political elites and big land owners.
That was one strange thing happened in the House proceeding. But this was not the end. Just wait. Some demands were made from the government in a strange way.
These were made by none other than a senator sitting on treasury benches. Yes, it was Senator Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan from the JUI-Fazlur Rahman - a party that has already pledged to vote for Zardari in presidential election. This is the party, which is represented in the cabinet. There are expectations that the party chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman has got some guarantees from the PPP that JUI-F will get more ministerial slots in the federal cabinet after presidential vote.
Gul Naseeb asked the government to empower the parliament to frame the country's foreign policy. Good suggestion. But the same suggestion was made by the MMA even when it was in the opposition in the parliament during the previous government. The parliament was not taken into confidence by the previous government. And same is the situation in the present regime. The only change that occurred is that the JUI-F is now part of the ruling coalition.
Anyway, whatever is said by Maulana Gul Naseeb, let us take it in his individual capacity because he must have felt some pain due to the factor that he is from Swat and let us take his assertions being a Swati. "We were told that around 500 militants are in Swat. But the military operations for over one year could not eliminate this small number of militants. Are not you telling lies?" he said. Why did the government launch such a massive operations in the area when the number of militants is just 500.
I quote here the senator directly. He said, "Today, the only neighbouring country which somehow keeps its friendship with Pakistan is only China. We have lost friends like Iran and Afghanistan in order to please our Western friends. Our enmity with India is known to all. The US is bent to declare state of war in Pakistan because it will pave the way for Washington intervention in our internal affairs. The US wants to confront China, to control the natural resources of Central Asia, and to deprive Pakistan of its nuclear assets. Therefore, Pakistan must go for regional approach to confront the US by involving China, Russia and other regional countries."