Iraqi militants spared a Pakistani hostage last week but killed the other two this Wednesday casting a pall of gloom all over the country.
It also triggered a debate as to what went wrong here in Islamabad that the Iraqi militants were not moved this time by the deep entreaties offered by the families of hostages and almost all segments of the Pakistani society, who sought their reprieve.
May be, some light is cast on the difference between two situations on Friday when the National Assembly would debate the Iraqi situation in general and what should be Pakistan's role in that imbroglio as it tends to evolve.
On Thursday, the National Assembly met only 20 minutes behind schedule but it was a 'false dawn' as the House lacked the required quorum and was adjourned, to resume proceedings after full one hour.
The Speaker suspended the question hour and asked Maulana Fazlur Rehman to offer prayers for the two Pakistanis killed the night before. Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmud Kasuri then read out the consolatory resolution, which was adopted unanimously. It is another matter that later, during the day, the ARD faction of the opposition expressed its reservations about Pakistan's position on the Iraq situation.
The resolution noted that the people of Pakistan are deeply shocked. The captors carried out the killing "despite appeals made by the National Assembly, the President, the Prime Minister and myself, and did not heed and went ahead with killing".
"I and the Foreign Office had said explicitly that Pakistan has not decided to send troops to Iraq."
Of course, there is no announcement yet from the government side that troops would be dispatched to Iraq. But the unanimous resolution adopted the day before by the House had quite conspicuously dropped that paragraph, proposed by the opposition, which would have committed on the government not to dispatch troops to Iraq.
The captors had demanded commitment from President Musharraf that troops would not be sent to that blighted land. Refusal to make that commitment could have triggered the heinous crime.
The subtle perceptional mismatch entertained by the two sides of the House on the civil war in Iraq was in fact detectable as early during the day as the first speech after Kasuri's.
Opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman condemned the killings and described the victims "Shaheed", but he also reminded that the killers did not have personal enmity against the deceased. What led to these killings bespeaks of the contradictions that beset Pakistan's foreign policy, he argued, demanding a fuller debate. The foreign minister instantly agreed.
In line with our political culture, the government of the day uses local authorities to secure compliance of its opponents. Pir Aftab Shah Jilani brought up one such case in an adjournment motion. He repeated his yesterday's complaint that water courses feeding his lands have been closed to punish for rendering political support to his party candidate against prime minister-designate Shaukat Aziz.
The minister entrusted with the responsibility to defend the government in the House, Nouraiz Shakoor, took the position that Pir's complaint was a provincial matter and the centre could not provide any relief. Siding with the minister, Speaker Amir Hussain ruled the adjournment motion out of order, triggering a walkout by the opposition. As the opposition members were moving out, the Speaker modified his stance a bit by "observing" that there should be no political victimisation.
Given the unpredictability that is the hallmark of Pakistani politics, the proceedings of the House keep alternating between hope and despair. But one thing, which is certain and happens on daily basis, is the protest one or the other opposition member registers against Speaker Amir Hussain.
Today it was youthful Sahibzada Abul Khair, who told the Speaker that his attitude was unjust and biased against him although he is leader of a faction of MMA.
To this, an angry Amir Hussain responded that he in his record did not recognise the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan as a party.
However, it was the newly elected young member from Jhang who stunned the House with his strong logic and impressive oration. He talked of the overarching welter of extremism that he said threatens to snuff out moderation, as the authorities watched benumbed, out of sheer inaction or design. Those who heard him today would like to hear him again.
The government also introduced four bills, one of which seeks amendment to the Defamation Ordinance, 2002. Since the copies of bills are not provided to the members, only after a bill has been introduced the nature of the proposed amendment was known. It was, however, learnt later on that the new law is media specific: much less the contraption Prime Minister Shujaat has threatened to whip the erring opponents into line. The other bills introduced pertain to Federal Public Service Commission, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority and Decorations Act, 1975.