At the outset of Thursday sitting, Khurshid Shah of the PPP grabbed the microphone to launch a fierce attack on the doings of National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The arrest of Agha Siraj Durrani in Islamabad a day earlier was the cause that provoked him. And his colleagues looked determined to block any legislative business with nonstop shouting and sloganeering.
The PPP feels doubly agitated over the arrest of Durrani for it was executed in “Rawalpindi.” The ‘custodian’ of the Sindh Assembly, Agha Sir Durrani, mostly lives in Karachi. Shah and his comrades kept drumming the point that if any valid case was really established against him, the Agha from Shikarpur should have been arrested from that city.
The “arrest in Rawalpindi” is being passionately projected by the PPP in a broader historic context.
The party associates this town with painful memories. Its founder, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was hanged here and Ms Bhutto’s murder also happened in the same city.
Being a skillful politician, Khurshid Shah tried hard to build the case that “the arrest in Rawalpindi,” clearly smacked of a plan, aimed at “snatching Sindh” from the PPP that had been ruling this province since 2008.
The NAB, he kept claiming, had begun executing “political engineering” while (ab)using a “Pindi-pleasing” law, i.e., The National Accountability Order.
This law was indeed enforced by General Musharraf, way back in 1999. After his removal and presumably the “restoration of true democracy” in 2008, the PPP government did not dare to change even a clause of it.
The NAB-empowering law remained intact in spite of the fact that a plethora of “undemocratic amendments,” inserted in our Constitution by “military dictators” were deleted “through consensus” after diligent scanning stretched to more than two years.
The veteran watchers of our political scene thus do not feel too convinced when the PPP or the PML-N wails over the “dark and manipulative” use of this law.
Even the Supreme Court does not feel comfortable with some clauses of this law. The apex court had clearly directed the lawmakers to revamp them. But “our representatives” did not care to move.
The PTI government could have been persuaded to make the required amendments, after the arrest of his senior minister, Aleem Khan, in Punjab by the NAB. With either/or mindset, the number-strong opposition had certainly missed the bus. The NAB keeps relishing absolute freedom to “cleanse” our politics.
From the treasury benches, Shafqat Mehmood, stood to demolish the spin, Khurshid Shah had weaved with a long speech.
After the dismissal of first Benazir Bhutto government in 1990, Mehmood had resigned from a prestigious government position to join the PPP. He ardently worked for this party until 1996 and eventually ended with the PTI. The government often needs him to embarrass the PPP.
He did the same Thursday, somewhat effectively. His taunts provoked more noise from the opposition benches and things began building to a complete rumpus. The Speaker felt helpless and adjourned the house only after an hour of rowdy business. It does not promise peace for the day after, though.
It is but obvious that the number-strong opposition is not so keen to seriously discuss the “relief package” that Asad Umer had introduced last month. Without a comprehensive debate on this package, we can never discover the real beneficiaries of the said package. The Finance Minister will easily get away with his “Seth pleasing” trick.
The number-strong opposition in the National Assembly has yet to realize that since the advent of the PTI government, mass of the middle class and salaried segments are feeling too anxious. They seriously fear slipping down to left behind wretched of our earth. The opposition needs to harness and reflect their anxiety.
Perhaps “the arrest in Rawalpindi” is unjustified. But the urban middle classes will not feel too upset about it. For them all politicians are elitist and corrupt, unless proven otherwise. The opposition must get back to agitating about their real time concerns, after expressing its anguish over “the arrest in Rawalpindi.”
Doing this, the opposition must also ponder over the question: “why the arrest in Rawalpindi,” from a different angle.
The NAB and other corruption-busting outfits of the state were even able to convince the Supreme Court of Pakistan that the PPP-led government in Sindh “does not cooperate.”
The required record is not provided to them to facilitate the effective and speedy prosecution of “the corrupt.” People, somehow arrested under serious charges, are provided “VVIP facilities” in jail.
Each top leader of the PPP in Sindh is accused of “moving with a truckload of guards equipped with deadly weapons.” Their “patrons” had allegedly inducted most of these “guards” into the police. They often behave like diehard protectors of a “tribal chief.”
The attempt to arresting the wanted-types high profile politicians from Karachi or any other part of Sindh, we are being constantly told “off the record,” could potentially lead to “bloodshed.”
The story told in fearful whispers by the NAB and other corruption-busting outfits of the state has almost convinced the urbanite viewers of TV talk shows that Sindh is not being run by a people-friendly government since 2008. A “deadly mafia” has rather taken over the said province.
While wailing over “the arrest in Rawalpindi,” the PPP desperately needs to fathom, address and demolish the said story, effectively. Wails over “the arrest in Rawalpindi” will not work otherwise.
The post-Brexit politics all across the world has gradually turned “tribal,” lest you forget. In the “post-truth world,” feelings/perceptions have replaced the reason. The Twitter-driven rage is the name of the game now and politicians of all camps are mostly the real victims of it.