ISLAMABAD, May 11: The ruling party on Friday suffered a self-inflicted reproach in the National Assembly over a chronic absenteeism of its law-makers a day before it has vowed to show up with multitudes for a presumed non-parliamentary showdown.
Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain angrily acknowledged that no legislative business had been taken up in the current session so far for fear the ruling coalition would not have enough presence to ensure a quorum of one-fourth of the 342-seat house to pass a bill if the opposition chose non-cooperation.
The treasury benches had poor attendance even on Friday before the house was adjourned after a two-hour sitting for Friday prayers and a two-day weekend as workers were busy outside the parliament house setting the stage for a rally to be addressed by President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday as a reply to an opposition-backed popular support Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has received after being suspended and charge-sheeted by a presidential reference last month.But there was little reflection inside the house of the ruling coalition’s enthusiasm for it will do on Saturday -- including a rally by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in Karachi as a counter to a reception planned by lawyers and opposition parties on the same day for Justice Iftikhar.
“I feel helpless because there has been no legislative business so far in this session,” ruling Pakistan Muslim League member M.P. Bhandara said as he complained of time being wasted in debates allowed during question hours and on call-attention notices in violation of the rules of procedure, and bluntly told the chair: “You are responsible for this.”
An apparently outraged Speaker rejected the insinuation and asked the member if he knew the implications of what he was saying as the ruling party member.
“We will do legislative business, you bring the (required number of) members,” the Speaker said before inviting comments from opposition member Liaquat Baloch of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal.
Mr Baloch sought to exonerate the chair from blame but held the ruling party responsible for the situation, in which the present National Assembly has been afflicted with the problem of quorum leading to frequent, premature adjournments during more than four years of its life.
Despite the embarrassment it caused for the government, Mr Bhandara’s complaint came in handy for the Speaker to explain that his policy was to use the rules to facilitate rather than obstruct the house proceedings before the house was adjourned until 5pm on Monday, leaving no time for opposition members to resume complaints they began on Thursday against the alleged government crackdown in Karachi or for Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Khan Niazi to wind up debate.
LOADSHEDDING ANGER: Water and Power Minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi earlier provoked protests the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) after he refused to respond to a call-attention notice from some party members complaining of ‘frequent’ loadshedding, or power cuts, in the country on the ground it was not accompanied by documentary evidence to prove the matter was a recent occurrence and of urgent public importance.
“If the minister thinks it is not of urgent public importance then he does not read newspapers or watch television,” PPP’s Sherry Rehman and one of the authors of the notice said as she referred to protests against the loadshedding in Karachi and other parts of the country.
However, after the Speaker asked him to make a policy statement, the minister agreed to speak, blaming the situation on shortfalls due to a 10 per cent consumption growth, including the new electrification of some 45,000 villages, thousands of new tube-well connections, a monthly addition of 700,000-800,000 air-conditioners, lack of conservation and unnecessary consumption.
But he said the situation could be met if consumers cooperated in the government’s power conservation plans such as shutting down of commercial centres after sunset.
However, the Speaker stopped the minister from replying to a question from PPP member Manzur Hussain Wassan whether the floodlights at the site of Saturday’s rally outside the parliament house would also be subject to restrictions imposed on markets, saying: “You have not to switch them off, only those can switch them off who have switched them on.”
