The Prime Minister entered the Parliament House outer gate exactly at 1015 on the morning of Wednesday, a day reserved for taking up the Opposition's cut motions.
All the same, he might have been surprised (or even felt a sense of disappointment) with the presence of only 123 Members sitting on Treasury benches. It does not matter if only 20 Opposition Members were present at that time.
They are aware that pressing of cut motions is a formality, and no cut motion could succeed, and that if even one cut motion were to be approved it could lead to the ouster of the government. Nevertheless, it is expected of the government side to take the Assembly procedure much more seriously.
Liaquat Baloch tried to inform Speaker Chaudhry Hussain about this technicality that with the absence of majority Members it might look that the budget has been passed by minority number of Members. However, the Speaker let that pass. 'The Constitution allows passage of the budget by a majority of the House present and voting.'
Inside, State Finance Minister was on his feet to present his case for approval of 178 Appropriation Demands, minus the demands of nine government departments such as Cabinet, Commerce, Communication, Defence, Interior, Information, Privatisation Commission, Law, and Water and Power, that would be subject to cut motions.
Conscious of the futility of the effort the Opposition nevertheless tried to dominate the proceedings with frontal attack on government policies, for instance sending 301 cut motion notices only for one Ministry, the Cabinet Division.
Liaquat Baloch and Syed Zafar Ali Shah made strong speeches lambasting the army of Ministers, State Ministers, and advisors; arguing that all of them had failed the nation.
Recalling the pledge by Shaukat Aziz when he took charge as Prime Minister they said the government had failed in all national fields. They particularly assailed intelligent agencies, the NAB, the NBR, and the Privatisation Commission.
'The administrative structure had been wrecked; the zila nazims are given extraordinary powers and the police placed under their charge are persecuting and humiliating political workers.
The House was proceeding smoothly and had even agreed that the discussion on cut motions would end Thursday evening. Two days ago, Chaudhry Amir Husain informed a MQM Member that the two references were under examination at his office but he would consider them after the budget session. Thirty days is specified in the Constitution for him to reach a decision on this matter.
As soon as the news spread this morning that the Speaker had post haste forwarded to the Election Commission the two references against Imran Khan, Liaquat Baloch and Mahmood Achakzai stood up to enquire the veracity of the fact.
The Speaker confirmed, and this led to a protest walk. The Opposition went outside hurling the charge of double standard. This ended the smooth sailing witnessed during the budget session. This was the fourth reference against member of the National Assembly since 1985.
It was the second walk out this morning. In the first it was Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Hyderi asking on a point of order to enquire from the Prime Minister (present in the House) the facts about the Miran Shah bombing of yesterday. He wanted confirmation whether the Nato forces had indeed bombed the madrassah, as projected in the news reports, or that we would later hear once again that the government itself had done it.
The Speaker ruled out Hyderi's point of order. 'The matter must be brought in an adjournment motion but not through a point of order.' Talking to Business Recorder Syed Naveed Qamar said it was a silly thing to do, particularly at this point of time, and doubted whether the reference could stand the test of scrutiny. Though the Speaker is duty-bound to apply his mind while dealing with similar cases some people suggested that it could have waited few more days.
A question asked by M P Bhandara, a ruling Party Member raised quite a few eyebrows. 'Mr Speaker,' he said, 'I submitted a few papers concerning the discussion on the Federal Consolidated Fund but I am informed by your Secretariat that I cannot do such a thing because I am a member of the ruling party. This abridges my right as a Member of this legislature.' Could one venture to suggest that a parliament Member is expected to keep his conscience during House proceedings?
A legal expert confided to this scribe that the Member could not enjoy party Membership and also claim privileges of the Opposition at the same time. While the cut motion was in progress, Omar Ayub Khan snubbed a Member with the remark that these [Opposition] Members came to the House without preparation. Liaquat Baloch reacted and requested Omar Ayub to respect elderly persons. Omar Ayub apologised but said that this kind of parleys was routine between the Treasury and the Opposition Benches.
Chaudhry Amir Husain intervened to confirm that otherwise the young Minister is a well-behaved person. Later when Omar Ayub came to the Press Lobby to enquire whether the Media was well fed out of the lunch he sends every day, this reporter asked him about the 51 or so recommendations of the Senate he and the Prime Minister had approved. 'These were about the Federal Board of Revenue,' he replied. What about the five percent recommended increase in pay and pensions as is being written about in the newspapers? He replied in the negative.
By the way, we found MNA Sanaullah Mastikhel, a Member from Bhakkar talking to a group of Media personnel. After meeting the President, he was flushed with a sense of pride. He spoke of having told the President about the unprecedented development in the country and that his party (PML ) could win all election seats if only there was unity in his party.
Perhaps this might help us to understand the sense of complacency found among PML-Q Members. As an example, we may refer to Treasury Benches seeking Assembly's approval for Supplementary grants for 32 Ministries and Divisions. There is not a single Ministry that has not overspent the budgetary allocation. The Supplementary Grants for 2006-07 would be taken up on Friday, if after today's walk out the Opposition shows up for pressing the cut motion on Information and other Ministries.