FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

Will the same government, still be there when the Senate holds next session? After a business, lasting less than an hour the Upper House adjourned sine die leaving everyone pondering when the Senate will meet next time.
The only contribution made by the Senate on Tuesday was to adopt a strongly worded resolution condemning the knighthood conferred on Salman Rushdie, (a similar resolution was adopted in the National Assembly on Monday) also expressing concern on the damage done to the mausoleum of Hazrat Imam Askari, in Iraq. Eighteen years ago, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a 'fatwa' against the author of blasphemous novel 'The Satanic Verses.'
Since being named for knighthood on the Queen's birthday this week, much of the Muslim world has once again been provoked by this act, deeply inflaming Muslim sentiments against the west and Britain, considering it an action opposed to recent western initiative supporting interfaith dialogue.
It looks once again the western press has raised the spectre of militant Islam. The Times has wrongly quoted Religious Minister Ijazul Haq's statement that suicide attack by strapping bombs to his body to protect the honour of the Prophet was justified.
He probably might have said that some one blowing one self up on this issue might consider the action justified. The unanimous resolution, notwithstanding, a conflict of interest was noticed in the Senate. At one point the slogan of 'Go Musharraf, Go' came back and the Opposition staged a walkout.
A major reason for this 'skirmish' between the government and the opposition emerged from the content of the Order of the Day. Tuesday should have been treated as Private Members Day, as per Senate Rules. However, Treasury used the day for conducting government business, as well as for the passage of Nadra Bill.
Leader of the Opposition, Raza Rabbani repeated the accusation in the news conference, saying if Monday should be a holiday then Private members business should be held on the next day. Since no sitting of the Senate was convened on Monday naturally, Tuesday should have been restricted to Private Members business.
Wasim Sajjad, leader of the House, took an opposite view that the business set for the Senate conformed to the Rules. Tension developed between the two sides, about the set of 90 recommendations forwarded to the National Assembly by the Senate.
In his winding up statement in the National Assembly on late Monday night Omar Ayub Khan had announced that 51 of the Resolutions were approved. Rather expansively (and perhaps to placate the Prime Minister) Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan informed the Senate that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Minister Omar Ayub Khan approved these 51 State recommendations, creating furore in the House and protests from the Opposition side.'
Who had empowered ministers to approve these recommendations? Only the Assembly could adopt such measures - it could even approve the whole set of recommendations and the ministers have reduced that possibility. The Opposition took the view that by similar actions, 'the Parliament had been reduced to a rubber stamp, and important matters were not brought before it.' He also accused Chairman Soomro of siding with the treasury benches.
Later Raza Rabbani repeated the accusation at a news conference, saying the Opposition had bent backwards in being positive about legislation and was keen to move a number of beneficial amendments. He objected bringing in the Nadra bill on the day when it was general knowledge, that about 20.5 million people had been excluded from the voters' list. The main reason for exclusion of such a large number of people from the voters' list is the inefficiency of Nadra in issuing computerised National Identity Cards.
Any one not found in possession of the National Identity cards would be effused to register as a Voter. Despite their inefficiency, extension of tenure of Nadra Directors and other high officials was proposed in the Bill.
Rabbani said this was tantamount to encouraging officials to obey covert government orders to refuse NIC Cards to people who would not support the government. Thus, a bribe was in the offing to encourage Nadra officials to contribute to rigging process, according to the Opposition Leader. He also alleged that 21 Bills not related to the domain of Finance had been concealed in the current year's Finance Bill, repeating last year's method.
Thus being the situation the opposition had decided to effuse participation in Business Advisory Committee meetings. - rather quixotically considering since according to speculation the present government might not be in saddle when the Senate will meet next time. The National Assembly Members were busy throughout the day in discussing charged expenditure.
These related to (1) superannuation, grants in aid between the federal and provincial governments, other expenditure of foreign ministry, civil works, National Assembly, Senate, Pakistan railways, external development loans, staff of the President, Servicing of foreign debit, foreign loans repayment, short term foreign credit, servicing of domestic debt, Supreme Court, election, Wafaqi Mohtasib and Federal Tax ombudsman.
The amount involved is astronomical: Rs 2,583,194,242,000. In this denouement, Liaquat Baloch announced in the National Assembly a protest walk out against refusal to give due royalty share to the provinces. However, there were only about a dozen members standing in the hot sun and even then they dispersed after half an hour or so. So there is no day without a walk out either in the Assembly or the Senate.
The Election Commission, President's House Household and Railways were the favourite grounds of opposition criticism. Everyone seemed to be concerned as articulated by Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani if reliance should be placed on this organisation, that had lacked in completing transparent computerised voters' list.
A few members also talked about the Railways. In a frivolous mood, they said although minister Shaikh Rashid had not married he was giving birth to new trains every other day, renaming the same child over and over again. But the working of the Railways, which was the cheapest mode of travel for the poor, had not improved.
In his repeat winding up Omar Ayub Khan made the point that although charged expenditure could not be voted in the House there should be some informed discussion on the budget document which unfortunately no one reads or tries to understand.
Members, generally, tend to refer to the same topic repeatedly while effort should be to hold a caucus meeting and agree to tackle different subjects. Generally, and notwithstanding the overwhelming number of speeches very few members have attempted to change the direction of the government expenditure.
Some one in the House brought up the subject of good manner during public speaking. The words one used tend to reveal the breeding one received during childhood, he/she observed.