ISLAMABAD, Oct 31: The National Assembly on Monday resonated with fears and suspicions over arrival of Nato troops in the strategically-sensitive Azad Kashmir area, as lawmakers continued debate on the Oct 8 quake after a two-day break.
The government said that Nato presence should be seen as just another foreign relief and rescue team working in the quake-hit areas because it consisted of doctors, engineers and other personnel who were adept in working at high altitudes.
Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain told the house that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had put off his closing arguments on the earthquake by a day and would now issue a policy statement on Tuesday.
Interestingly, while Prime Minister Aziz sat rooted in his seat, his predecessor Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and dissident lawmaker from Bahawalpur Riaz Hussain Pirzada moved about frequently in the house meeting members and exchanging views.
Mr Jamali, who sits on the opposition benches, is often a silent spectator in the house and so his extraordinary movement on Monday was taken notice of. Equally noticeable was Mr Pirzada’s meetings with members, fuelling speculations that he was lobbying for expansion of his group within the ruling coalition.
On a point of order, the head of PPP Parliamentarians and the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) Makhdoom Amin Fahim asked the prime minister why Nato troops were required in Azad Kashmir when efficient Pakistani troops were already working in the quake-hit areas.
Treasury lawmaker M.P. Bhandara rose on a point of order to respond to the query and said he too was perturbed at the development and sought clarification from the UN chief in a chance meeting. Mr Bhandara said he was told that Nato had not sent regular army personnel but engineers, doctors and experts to help in carrying out rescue operations.
Earlier, Mr Fahim said he was in Muzaffarabad on Sunday when Premier Aziz and a Saudi prince visited the area in the presence of a Nato contingent and he asked him the same question. “We are proud of our armed forces which are better than many armies in the world and if it lacks in any department — for instance, in its medical coverage side – then this is not good for its reputation.”
Aitzaz Ahsan of PPP Parliamentarians dismissed the debate on the quake as being meaningless because the government had taken little interest in the proceedings. Mr Ahsan pointed out that not a single government minister had bothered to take notes of the proposals forwarded by various members to streamline and improve the relief operations for the quake victims.
Yasim Rahman of PPP Parliamentarians proposed that the defence budget be cut and the F-16 deal and construction of GHQ in Islamabad be shelved for the time being.
Asia Azeem of PML called for maintaining the momentum and flow of public donations for quake victims and creating consensus among government and opposition parties on this natural disaster.
A MMA lawmaker Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Ghawas stressed the need for relief organizations to work in the field to ascertain who was really in need of assistance.
Earlier, the house was informed that so far not a single case of bird flu had been detected in Pakistan and that doctors from the four provinces had been trained by the World Food Programme to keep a check on the epidemic.
