FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

Writing an analytical piece on proceedings of the National Assembly could be very difficult for someone who listened to a long and lengthy speech of leader of the opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. It was more or less solo flight he took on Wednesday. He spoke for around three hours with breaks for Asr and Maghrib prayers and when he concluded his speech it was the time for Isha prayer.
After his speech, in my view, the other leaders in the PML (N) would have thought that nothing is left for their expected speeches on Presidents second address to the joint sitting of the parliament.
No doubt that Nisar spoke very well. All the points he raised were very relevant, but if one could have the right of editing his speech, it could have been finished within one hour. His Wednesday speech reminded us of the speech he had given in the House after the Supreme Court disqualified his party leadership and the federal government had imposed Governors Rule in Punjab. The atmosphere at that time was very charged as far as the relation between the PPP and the PML (N) is concerned. Right now the two parties are on the path of reconciliation. Giving such a lengthy speech was not understandable in such a situation though under the rules he could have spoken for unlimited time.
His long speech might have been approved by the PML (N) parliamentary party before it came to the house. He had some hits at almost major political parties sitting in the National Assembly before he started touching the real issues or actual challenges Pakistan is confronting. The leader of the opposition targeted President Zardari in first instance that made some PPP parliamentarians especially parliamentary affairs minister Dr Babar Awan uneasy while he kept changing his seats for quite some time during the speech.
Nisar was critical of Zardari for mentioning Changa Manga in his address to the parliament. Changa Manga episode of Pakistani politics of 90s is associated with PML (N) when some parliamentarians were put in thick forest. This forest was primarily planted at Chunnian 70 kilometers south of Lahore for timber needs of railway tracks. The planners of this forest did know that this thick jungle could be used for political purposes by our political parties. Nisar also touched the PPP role in Balochistan. In that troubled province, the PPP had won nine seats in the provincial assembly, but it is ruling the province. He was also critical of PPP meetings being held in President House.
After putting down his gun targeted against the President, Chaudhry Nisar put his sword at the PML (Q) throat. He alleged that this party, which he termed as largest ever forward bloc, has supported the dictator and is not coming forward to tender its apology. The PPP and the PML (N) tendered their apologies to this House and to the nation for their mistakes in the past. The PML (Q) leader is on the record to have stated that the party will elect General Pervez Musharraf as president for 10 times in uniform. If the PML (Q) is trying to become a real democratic party, then their leaders must tender their apology for supporting a dictator in this country, said Chaudhry Nisar as he touched the Musharraf era and Musharraf person again and again in his speech.
He hit hard the MQM, which is criticising the government for having peace deal with the Taliban in Swat. "Your leader is sitting in exile for more than 18 years. He does know the ground realities. First he needs to come to the country and then criticise the peace deal in Swat," said the opposition leader with concealed reference to the MQM leader Altaf Hussain residing in London.
"We will welcome the MQM if it comes up with any other alternative to not ideally Swat peace accord. Musharraf used force for last almost eight years, but the situation worsened instead of improving," he added as the MQM MNAs were not present in the house for the second consecutive day. This is the way in which hostile forces like Taliban are brought in the mainstream. The intelligence reports in the past bracketed the MQM and the ANP in the category which is more or less presently being used for the Taliban. The political governments brought these two parties into the mainstream. This is how democracy goes, he added.
The leader of the opposition, who did not come with clear words when Nizam-e-Adl Regulation 2009 or Swat deal was brought in the House on Monday, strongly supported the pact on Wednesday and appreciated the ANP leadership for having done this. Nisar looked optimistic about the deal, which is being labelled as "surrender of the government to Swat Taliban" by some quarters.
Chaudhry Nisar, being the chairman of National Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC), put a hectic agenda of bringing the corrupt officials including generals before the parliament or its committees. I cannot say it for sure that he wanted to bring General Musharraf before the house. It could be said for sure, that PML (N) will definitely want him to be treated as such.
He also revealed that they were under pressure to bury the matter of putting the name of a retired admiral on ECL. The admiral, who is already left for the US, is allegedly involved in malpractices while he was holding the office of head of the KPT. He narrated the outcome of audit reports in which billion of rupees of public money were spent on things having no benefit for the public.
Interesting things we heard from Chaudhry Nisar as he was unveiling the findings of the PAC of the last five months or so. He also announced he will submit interim report of the PAC to the parliament after the budget. He was also critical of the close company of a well-known and well-established property dealer with the President.
With this revelation, the parliamentary affairs minister got annoyed. He said that the same property dealer had grabbed some land in Punjab with the alleged connivance of the provincial government, which is being led by the PML (N). He was also critical of disclosing the names of some officials and military personnel by Chaudhry Nisar. Before laying down the report in the National Assembly, the opposition leader cannot disclose the names of the concerned officials, the parliamentary affairs minister observed while reading out from rules books.
In the name of rules and for the sake of rules, the names of corrupt are being kept secret. This is done in the spirit of national interest in this country for the last 60 years. One would also like to remind the PML (N) that the same property dealer or housing societies tycoon was very active when the party was engaged in negotiations with the PPP and its co chairman Asif Ali Zardari on certain issues. It should not have come to the mind of Chaudhry Nisar after some land in Rawalpindi - his stronghold - was allegedly grabbed by the company of the same tycoon.
There are talks that the PML (N) is holding a crucial meeting on Friday in Lahore on the issue of rejoining the federal government. We could only pray that the PML (N) should not join the government. Chaudhry Nisar is giving the PAC report to the House. If his party joins the government, the agenda will be left incomplete. Under the Charter of Democracy (CoD) the chair of the PAC would go to the opposition. In that case, someone from the PML (Q) may head the PAC and we will be deprived of knowing the names of looters of public money being spent on lavish accomplishments and the poor are running from pillar to post to earn bread.