On Friday, it fell to the unenviable lot of both the chairman of the Senate and the speaker of the National Assembly to avert defeat of the government on their respective floors. Thursday's debacle in the National Assembly was rather too embarrassing to see it re-enacted. And, both of them succeeded - not because the government could produce majority in both or either of the two Houses. Their strategy had worked, they didn't let the enlisted legislation come up for the vote.
The National Assembly had a timely start. The question hour passed peacefully, with minor disruptions like Hafiz Hussain Ahmad asking the chair to give ruling on the perennially low attendance by the ministers. Or, treasury member Sardar Tufail's wailing that the ministers remain callously indifferent to the lay members' requests for jobs for their constituents.
The tranquillity persisted even after the question hour, as Speaker Amir Hussain invited members to vent their complaints on points of order. His generosity was intriguing, in that with a 20-item agenda on the table the speaker was allowing points of order one after the other.
No doubt the substantive work of the House was being delayed, but some of the points of order were interesting. For instance, Gayan Chand Singh was once again asking the government to help in recovering some children of his community who have been kidnapped by some influential criminals. Maulana Muhammad Sherani was unhappy over the assembly secretariat's inability to produce Urdu versions of reports that are laid, saying it was serious violation of the Constitution.
Endorsing his views Hafiz Hussain Ahmad asked the speaker to give his ruling in the matter. The speaker admitted the legality of their stances, but said, he would reserve his ruling and would announce it after much thought and consideration.
Speaker Amir Hussain's large heartedness was in fact a ploy to delay clause by clause reading of the Pakistan Council Research in Water Resources Bill, 2005. Only a day before the opposition had inflicted a humiliating defeat on the government in a head count while this bill was being voted upon, and today again the treasury benches were less populous than the opposition's.
But for him there was no escaping from a ticklish issue: it was to let MQM's Dr Farooq Sattar finish his speech he had started in the previous sitting, but the MMA members did not let him make as rumpus went out of then chair Sardar Yaqub's control.
Only a minute before the Friday prayers 'Azan' piped and the speaker invited the MQM's parliamentary leader to re-start his speech. But the MMA members would not let him speak, insisting they too would then take the floor. Seeing an air of confrontation was building up the speaker adjourned the House for an hour. However, the sitting resumed could not be sustained as it lacked quorum.
Next door, the Senate was beset with angry mood, partly shared by the treasury members, as Farhatullah Babar spoke about a picture in the newspapers showing personnel of a paramilitary forces standing on a group of protestors sparrow-spread on the ground in Karachi. You talk of the distant Abu Gharaib, Pul-e-Charghi and Guantanamo Bay.
We have them here in Pakistan, he said. His was a chilling account and that put the entire House under the spell of deep silence. Conceding the act as portrayed in the media was shameful, Federal Minister Babar Ghauri informed the House that he had already moved the concerned authorities and investigation into the incident was on, Raza Rabbani wanted him to give timeframe for the action against the perpetrators to materialise. By Monday, the House is expected to get the report on it.
As the heat generated by the above issue affected others Sanaullah Baloch wanted to know about the fate of seven young men of his party who he alleged were picked up some three months back by the agencies. Then he came onto the NFC accusing Islamabad-based bureaucracy of treating "Punjab is Pakistan and Pakistan is Punjab". Last two budgets were illegal as these overlooked the constitutional requirement of basing them on the NFC Award.
The next budget too would be illegal for the same reason, he added. One may quarrel with his statistics but one cannot escape the burden of his emotions. "Our children are dying of hunger", he said, ignoring repeated requests of Chairman Muhammadmian Soomro to sit down. At this, the chair adjourned the House, putting aside the legislative work, which, to quote Raze Rabbani, was being relegated to avert another defeat.
The Senate will now meet on Monday evening, after the presentation of the Federal Budget in the National Assembly. Between now and Monday the government of Shaukat Aziz would be put hard to the task of motivating the indifferent lot of treasury members. Of course nobody, yet, is predicting the fall of Shaukat Aziz's government consequent to defeat on a cut motion during debate on the budget. But one should not forget that Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali was dismissed on the day after the last day of the Federal Budget. Do you experience the feeling of déjà vu?