Azam Khan Swati, a senator of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Wednesday resigned from his Senate membership in protest against what he said 'parliament's inability to stop widespread corruption' in the government. Swati, known for his credibility and steadfastness, said in a press conference that he also resigned from his party membership.
According to him, the party led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman has failed in pressing the government to promote matter of national interest especially eradication of rampant corruption in the country. "I've called it a day after being convinced that the parliament, of which I was also a member is unable to do anything vis-a-vis the massive corruption in the government," Swati added. He said it was embarrassing for him to keep promising people without fulfilling any of them. After saying goodbye to JUI-F that he would soon announce his future line of action, he added.
Swati also criticised the role of parliament, saying that it was not dealing with the problems faced by common man. The politicians of the country, he said, have taken the country to the verge of disaster - both morally and economically. "We've been forming committees to tackle issues of national importance, but always come out without anything at the end of the day...the top state organisations are on the verge of collapse; so this is the time we must act as the country is moving towards revolution," he said. He said that eight prominent public sector institutions including PIA and Pakistan Railways were being destroyed by the "corrupt" government. "The nation is at risk from those tasked to protect their interest as people with fake degrees or dual nationalities are sitting in the august house," Swati said.
He said that 'green passport', "which is supposed to be the symbol of our sovereignty and dignity, has become a matter of shame for us as wherever we go, we are looked with an hostile eye just because of people sitting in the parliament."
The government, he said, had been running the country through deficit financing and resorting to printing of currency notes. There is a steep rise in the foreign loans which have gone up to $61 billion from $32 billion, while the volume of domestic debt has never been accounted for, according to him.
"The government is aware of this and knows its repercussions but it is silent because it has its own vested political agenda as it wants to prolong its rule," he added. He also accused the government of bypassing merit. According to him, the man, who has been given the charge of running one of the most important ministries - the defence ministry, has brought the national flag carrier to the verge of collapse but he has been running his own shoe factory with full efficiency and dedication.
There is no example of such bad governance and financial irregularities as the only this, which mattered to the rulers was their foreign accounts. He said that he would file a writ petition in Supreme Court against Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), headed by Farzana Raja due to "large-scale embezzlement" in disbursement of funds to alleviate poverty. About the likely address of President Asif Ali Zardari to the joint session of parliament, he said that it would be a slap on the faith and dignity. "I am going to quit before he addresses the parliament," he added.
Senate Session The proceedings of Upper House of Parliament were adjourned on Wednesday due to a lack of quorum, as hardly 18 out of 100 senators turned up to the scheduled session. Senator Afrasiab Khattak chaired the session, which started after a delay of 15 minutes.
Saeeda Iqbal of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) drew attention of the chair towards lack of quorum. Secretary of the assembly said only 15 lawmakers were present and 10 more were needed to complete the quorum. The chair adjourned the proceedings. The House assembled again after 15 minutes but this time too, the quorum was not complete as pointed out by PML-Q Senator Simeen Siddiqui, and this forced the chair to read out the prorogation order.