The Question Hour at the national assembly was yawn inducing and unnecessarily drawn out Monday evening. Most MNAs wasted it in raising trivial points with obvious intent of getting their presence registered in the press gallery.
Then they went for the break for Maghrib prayers and the house looked almost deserted after reassembling.
Ms Shazia Marri of the PPP attempted to inject some energy by pointing out the absence of legislators, currently spending time in jails or under NAB custody. The Speaker has yet to issue order for their production.
Asad Qaisar was not present in the house and in his absence the Deputy Speaker stonewalled the issue by just not commenting to it.
An overwhelming majority of reporters at Parliament House were not keen to find what was happening on floor of the national assembly anyway.
Almost each of them was desperately hooked to his or her cell phone. All of us wanted to find out what really was “cooking” in our conspiracy-driven land famed for springing unimaginable surprises.
Shahbaz Sharif, the PML-N President, had held a meeting with his elder brother at Kot Lakhpat Jail of Lahore on Monday. He was granted “special permission” to hold the said meeting.
He needed such permission because the corruption-hating PTI government had adamantly been enforcing strict execution of the jail manual.
Prime Minister Imran Khan strongly believes that people like Nawaz Sharif, spending time in jail after being sentenced for committing “serious crimes of corruption” do not deserve “VIP treatment”.
They have to consume food, jail authorities normally provide to all inmates and should only be allowed to meet “blood relations” once a week for some hours.
Due to strict enforcement of the jail manual, Nawaz Sharif can only meet his “blood relations” on each Thursday of a week.
Not one person from the government side had any idea as to why Shahbaz Sharif was granted the “special permission” to meet his brother on Monday.
One minister rather accused me of “deliberately insulting” him by putting questions related to the special permission granted to Shahbaz Sharif to meet his brother in jail.
Some SOS situation could certainty have helped Shahbaz Sharif to mange the said permission. But apparently everything was reported “normal” about Nawaz Sharif; notwithstanding the discomfort he must be enduring for being a sentenced prisoner.
Shahbaz Sharif is one of the closest blood relations of Nawaz Sharif, no doubt. What about Khawaja Asif and Ahsan Iqbal, however? These PML-N leaders reportedly accompanied Shahbaz Sharif to have a special meeting with former Prime Minister.
This ignited legitimate curiosity among media persons. Not a person, either from the government or the opposition, could furnish plausible answers to our questions.
Most reporters are thus forced to seriously consider speculations that the a sentenced prisoner, i.e., Nawaz Sharif, who had been disqualified to hold any public office by the Supreme Court, was “once again” being approached for reaching “a deal.”
Yet the question: Who is approaching the former prime minister for “a deal?” Imran Khan and his powerful ministers keep telling us with self-righteous contempt that people like Nawaz Sharif should forget extracting another NRO, the code for forgiving and forgetting, from the PTI government.
If not the Imran government, who else is approaching Nawaz Sharif for a presumed “deal?” This indeed is a legitimate question. For being a humble reporter knowing one’s limits, one would avoid furnishing answers to this question, however.
Suffices is to underline the fact that power plays in work-in-progress kind of democracies like Pakistan always have wheels into wheels. In politics often surface occasions where rulers of the day need to act against what they keep proclaiming nonstop.
Apparently, the PTI government is feeling jittery about Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s decision of reaching Islamabad, sometime in the next month, with “millions” of his diehard cadres. That may trigger the feeling of chaos and instability about Pakistan that needs to be prevented, especially in the context of growing tensions with India.
Nawaz Sharif continues to convey to his supporters that they should join Maulana’s march on Islamabad. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari does not feel motivated to join it. Shahbaz Sharif would prefer to do the same. But he can’t afford appearing as if defying his elder brother.
Most reporters were made to believe that Shahbaz Sharif managed the “special permission” to meet Nawaz Sharif along with two PML-N leaders, after conveying to “relevant quarters” that he needed to persuade the former prime minister to rethink his decision of supporting Maulana’s proposed march on Islamabad.
I simply refused to buy the said story. Maulana’s march is planned to be held somewhere after mid-October. Shahbaz Sharif had ample time to discuss its pros and cons with his elder brother. His discussion on the subject could at least wait until the coming Thursday, when he is allowed to have a weekly meeting with Nawaz Sharif for being one of his blood relations.
Maulana’s proposed march on Islamabad does not deserve seeking the special permission, therefore.
To meet the deadline set for writing this column, I didn’t have enough time to chase credible sounding answer to the question: Why Shahbaz Sharif was allowed to have an unusual-looking meeting with Nawaz Sharif.
A “deep throat,” however, forced me to recall that Islamabad High Court is about to consider the bail application Nawaz Sharif had filed against his sentence.
The integrity and credibility of the Accountability Judge, Arshad Malik, who had sentenced him, was seriously damaged after the release of sensational video, some weeks ago.
The person, who had covertly made the said video, had now approached the Pakistan High Commission in London to deposit forensic reports of the said video. Two well reputed firms, known for doing the forensic analysis of controversial videos, have reportedly affirmed that the Arshad Malik did say things, he appeared to have been expressing in the released videos.
My source dropped hints that the lawyers of Nawaz Sharif are actively considering to use the content, surfacing via the Malik-related video, to furnish fresh grounds to establish a strong case for the bail of Nawaz Sharif.
The story does not end there. Rumours are also rife in Islamabad that the son of Nawaz Sharif is now planning to release “more videos” to build and promote the story about how the “sentencing” of Nawaz Sharif had been “managed.”
Shahbaz Sharif, some well-informed people in Islamabad seriously believe, had gone to meet his brother via “the special permission” to manage the decision that the idea of releasing more scandalous videos should be dropped to protect the reputation of some worthy institutions of the state.
I feel hesitant to buy this story as well. But something is definitely cooking in our very own state of Denmark and we the worthless mortals have no clue about it.