The 12th session of the National Assembly was prorogued Tuesday for an indefinite period, as both sides of the divide in the rowdy House exchanged allegations and counter allegations over the issue of Talibanisation, instead of framing any effective security policy to curb the fast growing menace.
The House was summoned to debate on the President's speech, but it converted into a bout to settle personal score by some parliamentarians belonging from different political parties, who kept targeting each other.
The war of words was initiated by the opposition leader in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who lambasted the leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q and MQM for supporting the former dictator, General Pervez Musharraf.
The episode did not end here, as the leadership of the MQM and the PML-Q also followed the suit blaming the PML-N for supporting a similar dictator, General Zia-ul-Haq in 1980s, terming extremism and terrorism as an outcome of that era.
Though the debate on the President's speech was winded up by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan, other non-issues dominated the proceedings during the two-week long session of the Lower House of the Parliament at the cost of taxpayers' money.
The Prime Minister, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani on last Friday asked the deputy speaker, who was chairing the session not to prorogue the proceedings of the House in the presence of looming security threats the country is facing.
He also proposed to call an All Party Conference to evolve a national policy on security to be formulated by the Parliament in the light of the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on security, formulated after the joint in-camera session of both of the Houses of the Parliament.
But the PM's proposal could not be materialised to date despite the alarming security situation in Swat, Malakand division and Dir, as the Nizam-e-Adl regulation signed by the government with Taliban to restore the peace in these regions seemed at stake. The House was prorogued ignoring the request of the PM to continue debate on national security.
The last day of the on-going NA session was no exception, as Chaudhry Nisar on a point of personal clarification, stood up against the PML-Q's Parliamentary leader, Syed Faidal Saleh Hayat when the latter alleged that Nisar's brother, General Chaudhry Iftikhar Ali Khan (Retd) was appointed by Benazir as Secretary Defence because Nisar was her own man.
Chaudhry Nisar demanded of the PML-Q leader either to tender an apology on the floor or face the privilege motion for what he termed as lying on the floor. Nisar opined that his brother was elevated as Defence Secretary not during the PPP government, but in 1997 when the PML-N was in power.
Faisal Saleh was not present in the House, but his party's vocal lady, MNA Marvi Memon snubbed Nisar and called it a character assassination of her leader in his absence and also demanded a similar apology from the opposition leader. The MQM Senator and Federal Minister for Port and Shipping, Babar Khan Ghauri also on a point of clarification, demanded of the PML-N leader for tendering apology for his remarks against his leader, Altaf Hussain.
At one stage, Maulana Fazalur Rehman also spoke against the MQM, who earlier offered him shelter in Karachi, if Maulana is scared of the Taliban in the Province of NWFP. To which Maulana with a light smile on his face questioned the MQM, 'How could the MQM extend a courtesy offer for a safe shelter to Fazalur Rehaman in Karachi, while its own party chief, Altaf Hussain is compelled to live in London, due to fear.'
Moreover, the sole performance during the entire session was a passage of a resolution in favour of the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation amid strong protest and resentment by the MQM. But soon after, majority of the political parties including PML-Q and PML-N, who earlier supported the deal, also demanded for revisiting the deal, when Sufi Mohammad and Taliban declared courts and Parliament un-Islamic. Precisely, the overall atmosphere of the Lower House of the Parliament during this session was apparently lacklustre, as the attendance was often less than what was required to complete the quorum. The attendance issue was pointed out on the last day of the session and the government had to face embarrassment.
However, one must question whether settling of personal score of politicians on the floor of the House is more important than the hardships the poor countrymen are facing amid uncertainty due to direct and indirect threats to the country and its people.