Opposition parties in the Senate on Tuesday termed growing 'lust' in the top military ranks for power and material gains a 'greatest' threat for country's survival and solidarity. As the Upper House headed towards conclusion of a two-day marathon debate on the current political situation in the country on a motion moved in the Senate on Monday, an opposition senator denounced what he called a process of commercialisation of military. Pakistan Peoples' Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) Senator Farhatullah Babar observed that there had been several examples, of late, wherein the military's top brass was caught making attempts to tighten its grip over national wealth.
In an apparent attempt to provide support to the accusation he leveled, the Pakistan Peoples' Party Parliamentarians veteran put forward references including a Punjab revenue minister in-house statement that some 0.45 million acres of land had been allotted to military high-ranked officials till 1985 in Cholistan region alone.
Earlier, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Senator Professor Ghafoor Ahmed also expressed similar reservations and feared the country would have suffered what he called an irreparable loss, had military not shun its policy of having control over civilian stakes including politicians' right of ruling the country.
The government's 'casual' approach towards issues opposition wanted to raise in the house was also reflected by State Minister for Interior Dr. Shazad Wasim's winding up speech that hardly lasted for five minutes.
During his winding up speech, the young minister did not bother himself to divulge upon issues on which most of the opposition senators threw light for a whole two days.
Moreover, like ever before in the Senate, Baloch nationalists' complaints against alleged atrocities of paramilitary officials and growing sense of deprivation in the province dominated the debate and overshadowed the actual topic.
Also, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) kept on trading allegations throughout the debate, changing its direction virtually.
The speeches from most of the legislators revolved around what opposition members blamed unethical and undemocratic means the government used to flop their strike calls and arrival of Asif Ali Zardari on April 16.
The Senate will initiate another debate on the fresh wave of inflation in the country before its prorogation possibly on Wednesday or Thursday.