FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

While the presence of Parliamentarians was very low during the first hour of the National Assembly session on Tuesday, it considerably increased after the arrival of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and opposition leader Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan.
Soon after the arrival of the opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, a large number of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Parliamentarians started coming to the House and the intense activities on opposition benches was an indication of something brewing.
The Prime Minister remained invariably the attention of both the treasury and opposition Parliamentarians who walked to his seat obviously for personal reasons and also to discuss something with him but extremely surprising for the media was intimate discussion between leader of the opposition and Riaz Pirzada of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q).
The Opposition leader was seen exchanging something with the other party leader and was even seen sitting on the back benches. At one point even the Prime Minister passed on a paper to the Opposition leader and later two were seen discussing something. The inexplicable movement on opposition benches was only revealed when Opposition leader made a fiery speech.
The opposition leader, known for his fiery mannerism, burst out at former military ruler Musharraf for his recent interview with the US journalist Seymour Hersh, in which he spoke harshly against President Zardari and wondered why treasury members have been quite on the issue. Nisar said it was strange that no clarification to what Musharraf said about President Zardari has yet come from the treasury.
"We have political differences but the insult to the office of the President was intolerable to his party. "I have many reservations and differences about the performance of President Asif Ali Zardari but I will not tolerate such remarks against him by a person who was solely responsible for the current situation faced by the country. Nisar Ali Khan demanded of the government to invoke Article 6 of the Constitution against Musharraf.
While the opposition members of PML-Q moved a private bill for giving more powers to the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP), the opposition of PML-N to the CCP powers was extremely surprising. In the previous sitting of the House, PML-N Khawaja Asif was very critical of the concentration of all the powers at CCP and wanted the Prime Minister to look into the matter.
This was extremely surprising that a political party from which one can expect to raise voice against such practices went on opposing CCP powers, which was seen as a ray of hope by the people after it took action against powerful cartels in different sectors of the economy. However, this was encouraging that the government did not oppose private members bill and the bill was referred to the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Finance for further deliberation.
The PML-Q members wanted amendment in section 38 the CCP Ordinance to ensure that severe penalties are imposed on the companies that are in violation of the order of the Commission. Waqas Akram of PML-Q said that the bill proposed 10 year imprisonment to the chairman and chief executive of a penalised company on violation of the Commission order and five years to the executive directors and general manage of the company.
Being the private members day, the proceedings started half an hour beyond schedule with the Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi in the chair and agenda listed 27 items for the day. The House adopted a resolution on price hike, asking the government to take steps to control the price hike in the country.
State Minister for Economic Affairs Division (EAD), Hina Rabbani Khar though acknowledged that inflation was a problem, yet claimed it reduced considerably as compared to last year due to the corrective measures taken by the government. An example of insensitivity of elected people to the problem of people was available from the National Assembly sitting as no one spoke about the ongoing sugar crisis.
The Prime Minister, ministers and opposition leader and other parliamentarians have been raising a host of issues but none of them said a single word on the prevailing sugar crisis. The delay in release of funds and not the sugar problem was a matter of great concern for them.
The parliamentarians expressed their concerns over release of less funds for the first quarters, however, the Minister for EAD claimed that 20 percent of the total allocation which is Rs 85 billion have been released. Though, release of development funds in the first quarters are always lean, yet previous five years analysis showed that the release of funds is more than previous year. The Minister also assured that there was no issue in release of those 20 million announced by the Prime Minister for Parliamentarians.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has appealed to the people as well as the provincial government to show the same spirit for the IDPs of Waziristan they had displayed for the people of Malakand. The challenge was not an ordinary one rather the government fighting the people who have waged gorilla war and need the support of provincial governments and people to fight the menace. The Prime Minister paying homage to the jawans condoled with the families who have lost their dear ones in this war.