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Thursday March 28, 2024

Opposition strategy against NA deputy speaker works

By Fasihur Rehman Khan
February 25, 2016

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Divided they were being taken for granted. Not anymore. The opposition in the Lower House of Parliament had something to cheer about on Wednesday as their tactic to zero-in on Deputy Speaker Murtaza Abbasi worked. Earlier, he was refusing to budge. But, two days of back-to-back agitational walkouts finally compelled Mr Abbasi to eat a humble pie. So serious was the situation for the treasury that their compulsory rescuers and peacemakers – ministers Zahid Hamid and Sheikh Aftab – had already surrendered. Nothing short of an olive branch from treasury was bound to work.

It all started as usual on Wednesday morning. Speaker Ayaz Sadiq left the presiding chair for a break, and the Deputy Speaker was there to preside the proceedings, as always. As soon as it happened, the amalgam of opposition parties – PPP, PTI and JI – walked out without waste of time, pre-planned. A third walkout against the Deputy Speaker in three sittings in a row during the current session. Feeling heat of the situation, Speaker sent ministers to bring the opposition back, but to no avail. On their return, parliamentary affairs minister Sheikh Aftab had to tell the Deputy Speaker to do the needful by himself. So the rapproachement process began, full throttle. Mr Abbasi went to the opposition, re-assured them of gentleman behaviour, and walked in the House with them. Later on, he was seen sitting next to Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah exchanging pleasantries, views. A small, but well-meaning moral victory for the opposition lot. MQM is not their part and parcel of this combined opposition by design. They tread their own way, stage a walkout for their own cause, and at a time of their own choosing. A protest demo, may be a token hunger strike, outside Parliament is on the cards for Thursday (today) to press for their case. Altaf Bhai must rule Pakistani air beams, yet again, they demand. Alas! Not possible for now. Perhaps, a long, uneasy wait for their wish to come true in the new political-security environment.

Coming back to Deputy Speaker who holds a very important number two position as custodian of the House. For quite some time now, Mr Abbasi was trying to play a bad cop by design, as Speaker Ayaz Sadiq established himself as good cop despite his political-cum-electoral bitterness with PTI that forced him to go through an exhaustive re-election, last year. Other than that, Speaker has been able to establish his moral writ on colleagues, earning respect of opposition and treasury alike, except Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. Whenever, as seen on various occasions under PML-N rule, the Lal Haveli Sheikh touches limits to please Imran Khan and annoy Prime Minister Sharif in the House, he has to be silenced by Speaker Ayaz Sadiq. Of late, Deputy Speaker was assuming the role of taking on opposition parties, especially PTI which rivals him and his Mansehra group of PML-N in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Even during the session in hand, Mr Abbasi had rudely reminded PTI legislator Dr Shireen Mazari about parliamentary norms, taken as unnecessary dictation by opposition ranks. Lately, he demonstrated guts to steal a victory from opposition’s jaws on Presidential address vote of thanks. The list is long. With opposition using its parliamentary muscle, Mr Abbasi has finally been toned down, if not attenuated. He belongs to the powerful group of Hazara area legislators who are politically very important for PML-N, their first line of defence and offence in KP. Capt (R) Safdar, son-in-law of premier Sharif, also belongs to the same group. Gone are the days when he was a silent spectator at the back benches. These days, Mr Safdar is seen in an unusual fast forward mode, taking part in debates, indulging in issues, meeting or even expressing solidarity with opposition members, especially PPP, not PTI ones. He walks frequently from rear desk to meet ministers and colleagues in the front treasury row. And as one treasury member puts it, the son-in-law wants to be prominent now for a number of reasons. The other day, Safdar got furious when a JUI MNA’s motion to schedule flights from Khuzdar, Balochistan, was voted out. And that too in presence of the premier. Minister Zahid Hamid was later on seen consoling Mr Safdar, assuring to plead the case shortly. All this at a time when we hear premier Sharif’s talented daughter, Maryam Nawaz, running media affairs from the PM House, is gearing up for an electoral role in the upcoming elections. Short of being declared a political heir of her father for now, she is being propped up to take on important responsibilities in near future. A safe constituency is being earmarked in capital Islamabad for the purpose. And the new mayor Islamabad Sheikh Ansar Aziz, coupled with state minister Dr Tariq Fazal have already started the spade work. Sheikh Ansar is the new man on the political horizon in the capital, the old PML-N faces of the city are overly focused on, these days. How important the man may be, he is struggling for required powers the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and district administration are reluctant to surrender. But his proximity with premier Sharif is expected to land him all the powers he wants under his coffer, to perform. A powerful Islamabad mayor may become a good omen for rest of the local bodies system across the country who are desperate to clinch powers from jaws of the respective provincial governments.

Now the tricky NAB thing, the most talked about topic in lobbies, chambers an elsewhere in the Parliament House. So far, as told by a minister, three meetings at the highest level have not been able to find out solution to the problem as there is an almost consensus in the power corridors to establish an oversight body over NAB. Legislative part of the whole thing is tricky enough for the government to come up with and avoid opposition’s hue and cry. For now, NAB has six high profile cases up its sleeves. The list includes a federal, and a Punjab minister, an important federal bureaucrat etc. A person associated with the media is also under the NAB radar, we are told. Grossly misunderstood, they say, Major (R) Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, the NAB chief, has cordial working relations with the government. Disagreements are always there over scope and nature of operations. The gentleman, a career bureaucrat, doesn’t believe in ‘unnecessary hobnobbing’ with the garrison.