ISLAMABAD: A day after a statement by Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif vowing the army would “resolutely preserve” its dignity, two senior government ministers took the floor of the National Assembly on Tuesday to reject a perception that people lacked trust in parliamentarians they voted for in elections.

On the last day of a 16-day session of the house that passed off smoothly after Monday’s noisy furore over the bulldozing of a controversial anti-terrorism bill by the government, no lawmaker from either side of the aisle made a direct mention of the army chief’s speech at a commando base in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, which otherwise seemed to attract a lot of attention from politicians and the media.

But Water and Power Minister Khwaja Mohammad Asif, who is also in charge of the defence ministry, seemed hinting at that very subject when he advised members of parliament against “crossing all limits in self-accountability” while “all (other) institutions defend themselves and defend their members”.

Calling parliament “the most powerful institution” of the country, the minister said its members must guard it from being trampled by any other institution rather than vilify one another and “belittle our own institution”.

But, in a reference to support extended by politicians to every military dictator in the country, the minister regretted that “whenever a usurper comes, members of our own community join hands with him”.

Before him, Information and Broadcasting Minister Pervaiz Rashid said it was wrong to assume that people didn’t trust parliamentarians, asking that if it were so, why they would not stand in long queues to elect them?

PRIVATE BILLS GALORE: On what was a private members’ day, the government allowed the introduction of 10 private bills by lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, including one from two PTI members to provide for electronic voting in general elections, which was called “really progressive” by minister Pervaiz Rashid, who is also in charge of the law ministry.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed told the house that the ministry concerned had already sought a detailed report from the department concerned on what he called “a very important bill” that Nafisa Shah and three other members of the PPP were allowed to introduce, seeking the constitution of an independent National Air Transportation Safety Board to ensure compliance of international air safety standards. But another PPP member, Shazia Marri, was denied a similar accommodation as her resolution demanding the lifting of a 1-1/2-year ban in Pakistan on the YouTube video-sharing social website was not put on the day’s agenda after an inconclusive debate on the previous private members’ day on April 1.

Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi also did not allow her to move what she called a joint resolution supported by different parties on what the government should do to make Pakistan polio-free.

The house also heard an outburst from PTI member Ghulam Sarwar Khan, who resumed his seat in the house after the vacation of some nine months’ suspension by the Supreme Court on allegations of possessing a fake university degree.

The member, who had defeated Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in one of the two constituencies the minister had contested from Rawalpindi district, called his suspension “a unique case of political victimisation and judicial activism” but agreed to speak in detail on the issue in the next session when he said “the man behind all this conspiracy” should also be present.

PIRZADA’S GESTURES: It is not unusual for a minister concerned or a ruling party chief whip to going to the speaker’s rostrum to make a suggestion about the business before the house or about when to adjourn the proceedings.

But towards the fag end of the sitting on Tuesday, Inter-Provincial Coordination Minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada was seen making gestures with his hands from his seat apparently suggesting an end to the proceedings, and the deputy speaker did not seem to ignore them as he cut short Ms Shazia Marri’s request to move a resolution on polio elimination by reading out the presidential order proroguing the house somewhat early than usual at 1.15pm.