ISLAMABAD: The national discourse has obviously moved away from the crucial war against terrorism to petty, real petty issues.
The National Assembly did not display the somberness that should be expected in such grave times that we pass through. The Qadri fiasco in Lahore refused to go away. The PTI disrupted the budget proceedings time and again to seek answers. It did not trust the government for the judicial inquiry that, it alleged, was a typical ploy to cover up the high-handedness shown by the Punjab Poolas. One could not disagree with the argument, considering the reports of about a dozen last judicial inquiries that were designed to kill the issues.
The alleged involvement of a PML (N) worker, one Gullu Butt, was particularly raised. Ishaq Dar was not happy at the disruption as he just wanted to get over with the budget exercise. It was a difficult task for the finance minister to defend the government in the absence of interior minister, who was missing to save his best buddy in a crunch time. At one stage, Dar almost lost his cool shouting back that “Gullu Butt or Ullu Butt will be dealt with if found guilty by the judicial commission; let’s carry on with the budget.”
Under the circumstances, it seemed, Gullu episode had taken precedence over Zarb-e-Azb. It was shameful to see the National Assembly involved in trivial point scoring. Technically, the budget procedure entered its final stages where the government has to explain through ‘cut motions’ why it should be given money under various heads. Old-timers recalled that this was always the occasion when one heard the best speeches. The political heavyweights, up until the 1990s, came up with best arguments to stall funding for every aspect from education to health.
And here we had Jamshed Dastis of the world, who made a long speech to explain that he was not a “tail chor.” Even Sheikh Rasheed seemed distracted, jumping from nepotism in PIA to failure of Nandipur Project to accumulation of circular debt to Rs400 billion. Thanks to the over exposure on TV screens, he speaks more in spicy sound bites than parliamentary terms. But he did have a point about Islamabad’s metro bus.
Forget about the cost, utility or the dubious manner of awarding the contract, the PML (N) government has ruined the beauty of Islamabad’s most beautiful boulevard. What’s wrong with employing aesthetics! Nobody can think of spoiling the view of India’s Lok Sabha. The Metro could have easily moved the metro route on the adjacent service road of Blue Area thus saving the Parliament view. But then the PML (N) has a way of never consulting anybody, not even the local stakeholders, including the local MNA, Omer Asad, because he happened to be a PTI member.
Shazia Marri also questioned the PML (N)’s infrastructure-centric approach to development. In a rare display of a good speech on a bad day, she aptly asked why development could not be productive. We have many models, as kiosk development in Malaysia, where the focus of social uplift is human resource generation and not mega infrastructure projects.
The National Assembly discussed every issue in the name of budget, except the war in Waziristan. The only member to mention the plight of IDPs from Waziristan was Jamaat-i-Islami’s Aisha Syed. She had a point that the government had not shared the details of its IDP plans. The IDPs from other agencies were still reeling from what they had to suffer in the camps. So let’s not repeat the mistakes again and announce a concrete plan for the rehabilitation of IDPs. This was crucial for the operation. There were hardly any takers for her crucial suggestion.
The government has failed to pump up national spirit for the war effort. Symbolically, it was a good gesture to announce Zarb-i-Azb from the floor of the Parliament. But the contents of Nawaz Sharif’s speech left us high and dry. Somehow, it lacked a soul. We do not expect a Churchill-like we-shall-fight-on-the-beeches speech from the prime minister. But he has got too many wordsmiths of Nasim Hijazi mode sitting in his office. They could have made some effort to galvanise the public sentiment in favour of what is a defining war for, as the Yanks say, our way of life. Perhaps the state-run TV could chip in by whipping up nationalist emotions through theme songs and anthems as it did in 1965.
Many think that Nawaz Sharif’s speech was just about announcing the operational side of Zarbi-i-Azb. Perhaps Nawaz Sharif needs to declare a total war against terrorism that has to be fought in every street. We still wait for the government to announce the missing chapters of war on the cultural front; the strategy to reverse radicalisation of society and root out religious zealotry. Where is the social and administrative package of the so-called all-out war, we ask?
But then, we suspect, Nawaz Sharif has got people around him who are soft on Taliban and are actually part of the problem.
Tailpiece: Marvi Memon seems to relish sitting on Chaudhry Nisar’s seat next to the prime minister. She kept sitting on it for better part of the day, playfully moving the seat from here to there.
We could understand that she was giving moral support to Ishaq Dar on a difficult day and the finance minister seemed visibly happy for the gesture. We also understand the need to keep the front rows of senior ministers occupied on a crucial day. But there was something odd, actually childish about the whole thing.
Chaudhry Nisar may be down but he is not out. As per the tradition, nobody sits on the chair of the prime minister and the seat of his senior minister is equally revered. It is not a plaything for backbenchers to make it a merry-go-round. We also understand that a batch of ministerial hopefuls is overly lobbying for inclusion in the Cabinet, expected to take place after the budget. But this was hardly the way to go about it. Come back Chaudhry Sahb if you want to save your seat-or its sanctity at least.
The News
June 19, 2014