ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif kept on hearing only reiteration of support without speaking out his own mind on Tuesday as parliament dragged on to a second week of a special joint sitting as a parallel show of strength against sit-ins threatening his government.

Ordinarily a session of either house of parliament would have adjourned to allow lawmakers to rush to their constituencies hit by heavy floods following last’s week’s torrential rains.

But not this time; the government wants them to stay in Islamabad to buck up the embattled prime minister, who, however, would go around the flood-hit areas of Punjab by helicopter, as he did on Tuesday after hearing four more speeches of support.

There was hardly any party or group left which did not speak on the situation arising from what have turned out to be longest protest sit-ins in Pakistan’s history – for 26 days so far – in separate debates in both the National Assembly and Senate last month and the one in the joint sitting of both houses since Sept 2.

But Speaker Ayaz Sadiq of the PML-N and the treasury benches would welcome any more speeches while there is no official word until when the current session would last.

The government wants lawmakers to stay in Islamabad to buck up the embattled prime minister

As the government seemed intent to tire out the thousands of protesters of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Pakistan Awami Tehreek still camping outside the parliament house, sources said the session, which – on its eighth day – has already become the county’s longest joint sitting to date, could continue until Friday or as long as the sit-ins lasted as a counter to daily harangues by PTI Chairman Imran Khan and PAT chief Allama Tahirul Qadri.

National Assembly member and former railways minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour of the Awami National Party, while condemning the sit-ins in Tuesday’s debate, regretted that the federal government’s writ was “nowhere seen” in Islamabad.

He also referred to what he called a long rope given to the protesters in the name dialogue – which he said had produced nothing yet – and asked the government to remove the protest sit-ins within two days.

Senator Muzaffar Hussain Shah of the government-allied Pakistan Muslim League-F, a former chief minister of Sindh, called for making parliament proactive and revisiting the landmark Eighth Amendment of the Constitution to deal with what he called “many problems” that remained to be addressed, like giving financial powers to the Senate.

He accused both Imran Khan and Allama Qadri of exploiting people’s frustration which, he said, must be addressed and called for carrying out electoral reforms irrespective of the outcome of talks with the protesters, who want fresh election under reformed electoral laws.

Senator Abdul Rauf of the government-allied Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party accused the protesting parties of seeking to derail democracy by fascist methods, while Senator Kulsoom Parveen of the opposition Balochistan National Party-Awami urged the prime minister to stand firm against the protesters’ demand for his resignation.

The house was adjourned until 11am on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, September 10th , 2014