In all honesty, I did not expect the budget session of the National Assembly to be smooth, but what transpired on the floor of the House was not only shameful, but proved beyond any reasonable doubt, what I have been proclaiming all along in my columns - we have nothing to be proud of particularly in the context of the riff raff that claims to represent us in Parliament.
My point of view can be countered by many, who in their extreme naiveté or loyalty to their political parties may say that such deplorable scenes are a part of democratic dispensation. In support of their argument, they may even cite examples of mayhem in the Georgian or South Korean institutions. But I am neither a South Korean, nor do I represent Georgia - I belong to a people whose history speaks volumes of their pride, honour and dignity and what makes me angry is the fact that we have lost these attributes somewhere on the fast track to get rich and obtain power.
A few days ago, an old friend who generally shuns averring on domestic politics, produced a gem. He opined that very soon foreign television channels were likely to replace their wrestling programmes with talk shows, featuring Pakistani politicians. Our own media has been very successful in marketing this concept, as no show closes without becoming a shouting match sans dignity between big names from rival parties. Just days ago, a private channel host had to wind up his programme and walk away in the middle of a bout between two well known faces that stood up from their seats and began hurling ‘words’ at each other.
It is not uncommon for our legislators to slap or insult those security officials at airports, who insist on carrying out their duty diligently and in accordance with the law. It is then that their istehqaq gets severely injured without any deference to the self-respect and honour of the official, who has been maltreated during the legitimate performance of his duty. I know of a case where a senior and very respectable member of the PIA protocol staff at the Karachi VIP Lounge was subjected to the worst kind of humiliation by a member of the National Assembly many years ago. I am told that this proud individual was so emotionally scarred by the incident that he had to resign his job out of sheer frustration of being unable to redress the injustice done to him.
Standing in line at the airport walk-through gate next to the X-ray scanner, I was chagrined to see a middle-aged person (who appeared to be a personal assistant or staff officer), a Begum Sahiba and a young man break all norms and push their way to the front of the queue. A distinguished looking, middle-aged foreigner standing in front of me, objected to this, but was ill prepared for the response that came from the young man: “I am authorised to go first because I am a VIP.” I looked at the disgust on the gora’s face and hoped that the juvenile now strutting after his nonchalant mother would break a leg on the escalator, for successfully educating yet another visitor on the finer points of Pakistani culture.
Compare the above incidents with the one that occurred in Lahore somewhere in the golden fifties, when one of the Anglo-Indian sergeants of the Lahore traffic police stopped a car for a traffic violation, to discover that it contained the sitting Governor of what was then West Pakistan. The Executive Head of the ‘Western Wing’ not only apologised, but also accepted the ticket that was issued to him with great humility.
One just has to pick up a newspaper and out pops an item about some member of Parliament, who has been involved directly or indirectly in some escapade or another ranging from financial scams to petty crimes. This only goes to prove that travelling in SUVs, living in mansions and wallowing in ill-gotten wealth do not guarantee staunch morality and sterling character - and neither does pedigree - for I have seen people with ‘blue’ lineages manifesting the devil himself.
A few weeks ago, we saw a politician in Faisalabad being roughed up by an angry crowd, which then went on to destroy his car. The television also showed the individual brandishing a hand gun and threatening people, which aggravated the display of public outrage. Many will treat this as an isolated incident, but I look at it as a portent of things to come.
Cocooned in the absolute comfort of their existence, these individuals pay scant heed to the distant thunder that even now draws near; for when the storm does break, it will not distinguish between young and old, the whole and the infirm or the innocent and the guilty. It is for us to decide if we want this to happen.

n    The writer is a freelance             columnist.