ISLAMABAD Nov 1: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy on Tuesday rejected the speech made by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in the National Assembly at the end of a debate on the quake and said it was disappointing and lacked a plan to give hope to the quake victims.
Speaking at a news conference at Parliament House cafeteria, People’s Party Parliamentarians Secretary-General Raja Parvaiz Ashraf and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Begum Ishrat Ashraf expressed dismay over the speech.
They said that the premier had failed to respond to or take note of the suggestions made by opposition lawmakers during the lengthy debate on the October 8 earthquake and its aftermath.
The PPP leader alleged that it had become clear from the speech that Mr Aziz had no control on and no role in quake relief operations for ‘an individual’ headed all the powerful bodies set up under army generals to handle the situation.
Referring to the president’s statement that Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto would not be allowed to return, Mr Ashraf said it spoke volumes of personal venom and hatred that Gen Musharraf had for the ‘national leadership’.
He said the opposition would join the joint parliamentary body, as proposed by the prime minister, only after the government allowed return of the exiled leaders and ensured that all other relief bodies came under the parliamentary body’s control.
Mr Ashraf said he was denied an occasion by Speaker Amir Hussain Chaudhry to raise some burning questions before the prime minister made his speech.
He said he wanted to point out government failure in collecting exact figures of casualties, injuries and property losses in 25 days after the quake and that why the government sought international donations with such vigour when it had in kitty $12 billion in reserves.
The international donors, he claimed, asked from the government as to why it was shy of first spending from out of its foreign exchange reserves before asking for donations to meet the demand of quake victims.
He said provision of a paltry Rs25,000 for reconstruction of a demolished house was a joke with the quake victims who expected to get full compensation for their losses.
Begum Ashraf said the prime minister should have shown the courage and courtesy to give the PPP leader a chance to speak when the speaker had denied the same to him.
Instead, she claimed, the premier said ‘don’t stop them if they want to go,’ when the ARD lawmakers started to leave the house in protest against the speaker’s attitude.
Manzoor Chaudhry of the PPP narrated personal observation he had made during a visit to Bagh, one of the quake-hit areas, and feared that things would turn worst for the survivors if they were not provided cold resistant shelters in place of tents which did not provide any shelter against rain and snowfall.
He asked the authorities to allow relief goods-carrying trucks stopped at Chakothi and Ponch borders to cross into the country before Eidul Fitr, instead of waiting for November 7 deadline.
