News
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Presidential address: ruckus likely in parliament today
By Muhammad Akram
LAHORE: President Asif Ali Zardari’s fourth address to the joint session of parliament on Tuesday (today) is likely to be eventful unlike his previous three speeches, as the major opposition parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), are up in arms for different reasons to make the House noisy and the occasion tumultuous.
Though the three parties have a varied level of political relationship with the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) yet they have been planning something big on the day.
The JUI-F has already quitted the government while the PML-N has relinquished the role of ‘friendly opposition’ and the PML-Q is still struggling to identify its role in parliament. Despite numerous attempts made to let the occasion pass peacefully, as had happened during the last three years at the time of the presidential address, the PML-N appears to be leading the opposition strife in order to settle scores with the PPP that caused immense embarrassment to its government in Punjab over the last couple of weeks.
The PPP, which was thrown out of the provincial cabinet, made things terrible for the ruling PML-N by raising the issue of turncoats, the PML-Q dissidents, which the PML-N embraced formally despite enjoying their silent support for about three years compromising its self-acclaimed politics of principles.
The PML-Q has, on the other hand, announced to boycott the presidential address ostensibly on the issue of the release of CIA operative, Raymond Davis, against payment of “blood money” and drone attack in Datta Khel area in which over three dozen people got killed.
Sources in the PPP believe that the PML-Q leadership was unnecessarily highlighting the two issues, as it was aware of the true facts behind the release of Davis and drone attacks.
In fact, said a source, the PML-Q wanted to get certain concessions on the arrest of Moonis Elahi, son of Pervaiz Elahi, presently detained on the court’s order in a corruption case. The PPP believes that the PML-Q wants to pressurise the government to rein in the FIA, which is bent upon pursuing the case against Moonis on the directives of the Supreme Court. Sources said that the PPP leadership would be able to make the PML-Q parliamentarians listen to the presidential address quietly.
As far as the announcement made by the JUI-F to lodge a protest during the address is concerned, it is believed that JUI-F chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, wants to use the occasion to further extend his credentials as an opposition party after enjoying out of proportion cabinet slots for the last three years. The issue on which the JUI-F parliamentarian would be protesting would be the same as that of the PML-Q. But it may have to wait for another occasion and some other issues to find the PML-N on similar point of contentions against the government.
The sources said the JUI-F is also making hectic efforts to hammer out a joint strategy with the PML-N and PML-Q but it is bound to fail because the PML-N is not ready to listen to the Raymond Davis issue.
The JUI-F considered the resentment expressed by opposition leader in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, as the sole voice from the PML-N on the issue of the American. Nisar expressed dismay over the way his party’s government acted in Punjab.
A source at the Prime Minister’s Office informed this scribe that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and his close aides, who were active in persuading the opposition not to muddy the political atmosphere any further, were confident that they would be able to make the opposition see reasons before the start of the joint session.
Nevertheless, the PML-N and JUI-F have summoned meetings of their parliamentary parties before the start of the joint session in an attempt to conceal their plans for the day from the government.
The sources in the PML-N informed this scribe that the party would not give up its plan of letting the presidential address take place as it had happened on three previous occasions. “The party may opt for staging a protest of lesser intensity contrary to its original plan after receiving certain messages from abroad to refrain from blowing up issues beyond certain proportions,” said the source.
According to the source, the PML-N still has sufficient time to evolve a strategy since it has planned to continue with the parliamentary party meeting till the start of the joint session.
The PML-N sources said the parliamentary party’s leadership had planned to raise the issue of corruption, bad governance and defiance of the judicial verdicts in order to disrupt the proceedings in which Davis issue got less attraction of the galleries. The ruling PPP believes that it will not be able to tackle the noisy voices in the House since it doesn’t enjoy a majority which could silence the opposition, yet it will make every effort before and during the session that the presidential address passes through without causing much damage to the dignity of parliament.
The source said the PPP had been asking the opposition, particularly those who had been planning to make the release of Davis and drone attacks a centre point of their protest as against whom they would be actually protesting.
The sources said the emissaries of the prime minister had been asking the opposition parties that none but the country’s establishment had been calling the shots on the issues in question and exposing the facts on the country’s security situation would further embarrass the country. The sources in the PPP said the government had planned to keep open its doors open on negotiation with the opposition parties on the stated issues as it has no other option but to pursue and convince the opposition to refrain from agitating on issue that a struggling parliament cannot take stock of under the prevalent political and security situation of the country.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk