FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

The National Assembly's sitting on Thursday with the blend of enthusiasm, ethos and disorder took up the issue of accountability and what was encouraging was that the Parliamentarians across the political divide vociferously demanded the lists of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) beneficiaries and those who got their loans written off to be presented in the House.
As usual the order in the House remained a challenge for the speaker, the proceedings evoked a great deal of interest during the question hour when Khawaja Asif on a supplementary sought the list of the people whose loans were written off during the previous government.
By then Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani had also stepped in the House. He was immediately surrounded by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Anosha Rehman and Khawaja Asif who had something urgent to discuss with the Prime Minister. As usual a number of treasury and opposition Parliamentarians walked to him of course for personal reasons. This prompted a ruling by the Chair directing the MPs to leave the Prime Minister's desk. And no one would have imagined that the atmosphere of the House would become suddenly so gloomy over some unintentional remarks of Khawaja Asif pointing towards a women Parliamentarian. Khawaja Asif, of course, did not mean to hurt the lady member and might have not thought that his remarks would make her cry till some members sitting next to the Farhanda Amjad Warriach of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) pointed out that she is weeping.
Farhanda Amjad Warriach did not know that by standing next to the Prime Minister's seat, she had erected a wall between Prime Minister and Khawaja Asif, who was speaking on a point of order. Her weeping evoked a great amount of pity amongst both the treasury and opposition members including the Prime Minister who walked to her seat for consolation. Khawaja Asif also apologised to the lady member while speaker expunged his remarks about her.
Although the discussion on the issue of accountability was very stormy, it was not clear as to when the list of NRO beneficiaries and those who got written off their loans would be presented in the House. One could understand the government rationale for not giving specific timeframe in this regard, what was extremely surprising was that the opposition too did not press for the timeframe.
What was more surprising was that PPP leader Nadeem Afzal Chand supported Khawaja Asif's stance and demanded for presentation of the NRO beneficiaries' list in the National Assembly
Faisal Saleh Hayat also stood up and so was Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) member, all urging the government for exposure of the people who had plundered national wealth on one pretext or the other. A consensus was developed after Minister for Parliamentary Affairs agreed to their demand. However, neither he gave any timeframe nor the opposition pressed. The opposition member particularly Faisal Saleh Hayat was not ready to believe in government's sincerity in tackling the issue of corruption. Faisal said that as a test case the government should either refute the scandal of 300 acre land if this is fabricated or take action against the persons involved in it to prove their sincerity.
The Prime Minister said by levelling unsubstantiated allegations against each other, politicians are giving the impression as if only they are corrupt and all others are innocent. The NRO beneficiaries, he said might surprise many to know that others have benefited more than the politicians.
He reiterated that 17th Amendment and Article-58/2-B of the Constitution would be repealed as per the government's commitment under the Charter of Democracy (CoD) and implored the committee members to expedite recommendations in this regard.
The Prime Minister also expressed his reservations about "Prevention of Electronic Crime Bill", and said he has directed the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Interior to withdraw the bill. The bill, he said should be resubmitted to the committee concerned for further deliberations and also solicit public opinion on the law.
Gilani apprised the House that he has directed the Ministry for Information to repeal what he called all the draconian amendments of November, 3 2007 in Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory (Pemra) bill.
Giving his personal account he said that he was at the forefront to protest against the curbs imposed on media by the former government on November 3. We at that time had vowed not to accept the draconian amendments in the Pemra ordinance and also promised never to impose any kind of restrictions on media and judiciary. The Prime Minister said he requested the committee to review the recommendations as the coalition government does not want to place any curbs on freedom of media. The Prime Minister also asked Parliamentarians to give concrete proposal to improve the governance and assured the House that a package on Balochistan would be brought before the House in the ongoing session.