ISLAMABAD: Uproars rocked the budget debate in the National Assembly on Wednesday as the concept of its live telecast for the first time in Pakistan was declared virtually half dead only on the second day of the discussion.

The general debate on the budget for fiscal 2015-16 was repeatedly interrupted and overshadowed by furores after some lawmakers from both the opposition and ruling party benches accused the state-run Pakistan Television (PTV) of flouting of a decision between the two sides for a live telecast of the debate in both houses of parliament.

Opposition parties in both the National Assembly and Senate had refused to participate in the debate on Monday unless the government agreed to arrange live television coverage of speeches. The row ended with an announcement by Information and Broadcasting Minister Pervaiz Rashid that the arrangement had been made by the PTV to do it and also give a “live feed” to all private television channels that could use the speeches according to their own discretion.

Take a look: Budget debate to be telecast live

The understanding at the time in both camps seemed to be that the arrangement would cover speeches of all lawmakers who would speak in the debate.

But after some apparent hedging by the minister, and show of hot temper by one of his senior cabinet colleagues that provoked the first clash of the day, it emerged on Wednesday that it was not be exactly so.

Senator Rashid said the PTV could give live coverage only to the speeches of parliamentary leaders and telecast those of others in a package sometime “later in the evening”.

Opposition leader Khursheed Ahmed Shah disagreed, as did his other colleagues, saying the live coverage should be given across the board -- as was the impression voiced by Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi who, chairing the proceedings at the time, advised both sides to find a practical solution.

At one time, the opposition also staged a token walkout as a show of solidarity with some back-benchers of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) who protested against the alleged PTV blackout of a speech by one of their colleagues, Raza Hayat Harraj, while he was speaking about the problem of farmers due to the alleged lack of government incentives and low prices of their crops.

But the worst provocation of the day had come at the start of the proceedings when Defence Production Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain dropped a bombshell during an angry exchange with Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) vice-chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi by using a derogatory expression about the father and grandfather of the PTI leader.

That happened after another PTI lawmaker, Shireen Mazari, complained that except for opposition leader Khursheed Ahmed Shah, the PTV had actually not given a live feed of any speech in the budget debate on Tuesday.

Not many people in the house seemed to have grasped the minister’s remark about the elders of Mr Qureshi before Pakistan Awami Muslim League leader Sheikh Rashid Ahmed added fuel to the fire by asking the minister to “not reach up to anybody’s father and grandfather”.

Tempers cooled down after a brief adjournment of the house and the opposition seemed satisfied with what later proved to be an evasive statement by the information minister claiming full compliance of Monday’s agreement, about which, he said, he could provide a documentary proof.

It was a little later that another shouting bout erupted between the defence production minister and Mr Qureshi, who said his sentiments had been injured, but peace returned when the minister apologised for his remarks after a dressing down by the opposition leader as well.

It was during the second sitting of the day after a brief presence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and a break for ‘zohar” prayer that the issue of live coverage cropped up again when PML-N member Awais Leghari complained that Mr Harraj’s speech was not being shown live on television, prompting the deputy speaker to call the information minister to the house second time for an explanation although he said the previous agreement was for an “across-the-board” live coverage for all house members.

One PML-N member, Rana Mohammad Afzal, even refused to take his turn to speak on the budget, until the confusion was settled.

After another bout of shouting between the PML-N and PTI benches and the opposition its dissatisfaction with the information minister’s second clarification that the PTV, because of its financial limitations, could arrange live coverage only for parliamentary leaders and a package coverage for others afterwards, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who had played a key role in reaching the earlier agreement on Monday, also emerged on the scene, calling for the house to go ahead with its business and settle the dispute through meetings on the sidelines.

While his call seemed to be heeded by opposition benches as some more back-benchers from both sides of aisle spoke on the budget afterwards, but prompted an advice to him from the speaker: “You should send ministers (to the house) in the morning after serving them with cold water.”

Considering the government’s well-known financial support for the PTV Corporation, including its licence fee collected with electricity bills from every consumer, the information minister’s argument about its financial constraints did not seem to cut much ice with the opposition,

Some argued that the PTV could do it as it gave live coverage to parliamentary sittings held last year to counter a prolonged sit-in by the PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek.

“Put as much load on us as we can lift,” the minister said, adding that otherwise “this corporation will sink”.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2015

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