ISLAMABAD: No matter if there were not many lawmakers present or ministers to intervene, the opposition Pakistan People’s Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement fought each other over the affairs of Sindh province in a depleted National Assembly on Thursday, sparing an embattled government they both back against a challenge from a boycotting opposition party.

The fireworks between the two parties, which were partners until last month in the PPP-led Sindh provincial government, erupted over issues ranging from alleged corruption in the province to a persistent drought in its Thar desert to MQM’s often shifting political alliances during a much delayed debate on President Mamnoon Hussain’s address to a joint sitting of parliament in June.

Considering daily anti-government salvos from Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, which has boycotted the National Assembly after more than 30 of its lawmakers in the house sent their resignations in mid-August, Thursday’s MQM-PPP furore seemed to be some solace for the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N, seeing their new-found allies directing their anger at each other rather than the government, just three days before the planned PTI show of people power outside the parliament house.

Yet, on the second day of the autumn session, the government did not escape entirely blameless as some lawmakers from both sides of the aisle complained of a poor attendance in the house, absence of most ministers from the house while Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is in Nepal to attend a summit meeting of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

Three assembly members from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), who spoke at the start of the debate on the June 2 presidential address to parliament, focused on problems of the so-called internally displaced person forced out by anti-terrorism military operations in the region and demanded their early return to their homes, particularly in areas cleared of terrorists in South Waziristan and Bara area of the Khyber agency.

MQM member Asif Hasnain ignited fireworks as, taking his turn in the debate, he accused Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah of presiding over corruption and placed most blame at the PPP’s door for a poor law and order in the province, the drought and food shortages in the Thar area, and what he called unequal distribution of resources among parts of the province.

He also voiced his party’s oft-repeated complaints about the continuation of a quota system in employments in Sindh to favour rural areas, the government’s failure to hold a fresh population census and the failure of Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces to hold local bodies’ elections.

The PPP benches were in no mood to stomach attacks on the party’s Sindh government, particularly the direct attack at the party’s chief minister, so soon after quitting his coalition on Oct 19 and after being part of his cabinets during two successive terms.

After some consultations on PPP benches, their senior lawmaker Abdul Sattar Bachhani lashed out at the MQM quite strongly, reminding it of its association with former military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf and accusing it of opposing any government working in the interest of Sindh.

Mr Bachhani said the MQM was now seeking favours from Prime Minister Sharif, using a description about alleged flattery that aroused a noisy protest from MQM benches before it was expunged from the record of the proceedings by PML-N member Pervaiz Malik, who was chairing the house at the time.

Some persuasion from the chair cooled tempers to allow the remainder of the day’s proceedings.

Sindh's gas share biggest

The PML-N’s parliamentary secretary for petroleum and natural resources, Shahzadi Umerzai Tiwana, provoked shouts of “no”, “no” from PPP benches when she claimed, contrary to facts, that not Sindh, but Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were the largest producers of natural gas.

However, on being vehemently challenged by PPP member Shazia Marri, Ms Tiwani went to a nearby visitors’ gallery to consult what appeared to be some officials of the petroleum and natural resources ministry before returning to her desk to “correct the situation”, saying Sindh’s share of gas production was the largest at “70 to 80 per cent” of the national total.

A PML-N member from Fata, Shahabuddin Khan, staged a token walkout from the house after accusing the military secretary of Sindh governor of misleading the lawmaker after he went to Karachi on Wednesday to take custody of 26 girls -- aged five to 11 years -- from his native Bajaur Agency, who were recovered from a house in the port city.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2014