LAHORE, June 23: While Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali insists that his government faces no threat as President Musharraf, the ruling party and other coalition partners are fully supporting him
, an MMA MPA proposed on Wednesday that the Punjab Assembly should pass a resolution to warn the relevant quarters that the nation will not tolerate the removal of the democratic government in an unconstitutional manner.
As the session started, Dr Wasim Akhtar raised a point of order that intrigues had been started against the federal government because of which the prime minister had approached MMA chief Qazi Husain Ahmed for help. To ward off any threat, he said, the house should pass a unanimous resolution.
Law Minister Raja Basharat opposed the point of order, saying the matter did not concern the Punjab Assembly. Also, he said, the prime minister had not appealed to the MMA for help.
In a light vein, the minister said the MMA should cooperate with the Punjab government just as it was supporting the federal government. There's no justification for the religious alliance to sit on opposition benches, the minister argued.
It is interesting that the opposition is seeing something not discernible to the prime minister. And both the ARD and the MMA are offering the help Mr Jamali doesn't need. (ARD Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim has also been quoted as saying that the alliance will help the prime minister in case he is in trouble).
The question is why the opposition doesn't trust Mr Jamali when he says that his government will complete its term. And whether opposition parties are in a position to save Mr Jamali if at all something 'inevitable' is in store for him.
It should also be examined whether what the ARD leaders based in Pakistan are saying is in harmony with what self-exiled Benazir Bhutto says. About a week ago, Ms Benazir Bhutto talked to Lahore journalists from London.
She wanted to give her reaction to the murder of Mr Munawwar Suharwardi. When her statement came to an end, a reporter asked her if she treated Gen Musharraf and Prime Minister alike or differently.
In response, the PPP chairperson said that Gen Musharraf and the prime minister were one and the same thing. She also said that Mr Jamali was in power because of the support being lent by the Chaudharys and the day it was withdrawn, the government would collapse.
Her statement is being cited here to point out that if the president and the prime minister are one and the same thing, how will it be possible for the ARD to support Mr Jamali, a step which will amount to supporting their arch rival Gen Musharraf.
The prime minister must also bear in mind that no opposition party, singly or in cooperation with others, is in a position to save him in case there is any threat to his government. They can't keep him in power if the president is against him or if his own party turns its back on him.
Not many people know that recently a think-tank working to bring about a change had offered Chaudhry Shujaat Husain the post of prime minister. He was asked to hold the post till a man from outside of the assembly is found, got elected to take over as the head of government.
Chaudhry Shujaat, reports say, did not accept the offer and also opposed the idea of inducting someone as prime minister who is not a member of the assembly. It was then decided that the president will hold meetings with the MNAs to see if some suitable person is available.
MMA's Wednesday decision that its secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rehman will not participate in the maiden National Security Council meeting, scheduled for Thursday (today), will not help Mr Jamali.
The Maulana's abstention means that an alliance, which offers its help to the prime minister, will not stand on his side in the NSC when he may be needing their support during discussion on any issue.
The debate on the Punjab budget came to an end on Wednesday and the opposition parties prepared cut motions for 10 departments. Cut motions for the remaining departments have been dropped. The proceedings continued even when the house was not in quorum.
Treasury benches praised the new budget, although a few members criticized some of its provisions. PPP's Raja Riaz, who is non-serious in his attitude most of the time, was of the view that the government would not be able to give a million jobs promised by the finance minister.
He said he would resign as MPA if the target was achieved. But, he hastened to add, the finance minister should not present the next year's budget if he failed to provide jobs to people according to his commitment.
