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ISLAMABAD, June 15: Opposition parties attacked government policies at the start of the National Assembly's budget debate on Tuesday when they also publicly joined a guessing game about the political future of Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali.
The treasury benches put up only a low-level defence of the budget for fiscal 2004-05 in a sparsely attended lower house, where their disinterest in the debate provoked opposition protests and a token walkout. But in their assault on the government's economic, political and foreign policies in the general debate on Prime Minister Jamali's second budget, the two main opposition groupings - the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) - remained clearly divided because of their own bitter row over who should lead the government's opponents in the 342-seat house.
After speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain got the debate opened by his nominated opposition leader and MMA secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the proceedings spanning two sittings lacked the usual fireworks between the government and the opposition and were relatively cool as was the atmosphere outside the Parliament House after a morning shower ended four days of a heat wave.
While opposition members generally criticised the budget as being favourable to the rich and doing little for the poor, the treasury benches described it as balanced and development-oriented.
The members of the MMA and the ARD cheered only speakers from their own alliance, and the ARD and its allies did not join an MMA walkout at one stage after both sides protested against the absence of finance minister Shaukat Aziz from the house and poor attendance on the treasury benches that they said showed a lack of government's interest in the debate.
Maulana Fazl, whom ARD and its allies do not recognise as opposition leader, blamed government policies for what he called an atmosphere of political instability and subservience in economic and foreign policy to "Western imperialism".
SPECULATION ABOUT JAMALI: "The political situation in the country cannot be called stable when the prime minister goes to sleep and wakes up not knowing whether he ... (remains in office) for some more hours," he said.
"Even today while he is not present (in the house) we cannot say with certainty whether he is still prime minister or not," the Maulana said about Mr Jamali, apparently referring to persistent speculation in newspaper reports and gossip in the parliament's corridors about the possibility of a change.
He said there was also a feeling that the current session might be the last of the present assembly. Prime Minister Jamali arrived later but his presence in the house for some time did not deter more opposition speculation. However, ARD chairman Amin Fahim, with all his complaints about what he called the "anti-poor budget" and government's moves to sideline his People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP), declined to publicly join the guessing game and said he was not aware of what was going on in the ruling coalition.
But his close ARD associate and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) parliamentary leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan capped a sentimental critique of the budget with a complaint to the ruling coalition of "making a tamasha (fun) of the prime minister", adding: "A meena bazaar of candidates (for prime minister) is being held."
In his speech, Maulana Fazl said parliament did not have full control over the budget as he referred to allocations for defence and the federal consolidated fund, and complained about little relief given to the poor and insufficient allocations for education and health.
He accused the government of following an "imported foreign policy" rather than its own, acting on US dictates in what he called cancelling a peace accord with tribal leaders of South Waziristan, and failing to provide security as evident from acts of violence across the country.
The Maulana criticised alleged federal control over local bodies through the National Bureau of Reconstruction as an infringement of provincial autonomy and called for a full restoration of parliamentary democracy.
Mr Amin Fahim said the budget did not reflect people's aspirations and blamed the present law and order situation on a policy to impose minority on majority.
He referred to the separation of former East Pakistan in 1971 because of "our treatment" to that wing of the country and called for being careful about "what is left of Pakistan".
Criticizing the government for launching military operations against suspected militants in South Waziristan, Mr Fahim said the nation was providing resources to armed forces for the defence of the country and not be confronted by them and have civilian governments toppled.
In response to opposition complaints, the speaker asked government ministers and other ruling coalition members to be present in the house during the budget debate.
